Untethered: Growing Up with My Autistic Son

Mark is just four days old when Carolyn's pride shifts to concern. Why doesn't he cry? Where is his appetite? As a worried mother, Carolyn grasps for answers, but in 1960s North Carolina, "autism" is not yet a household word.

Untethered traces the extraordinary forty-year evolution of both Mark and Carolyn as they struggle with what was then a baffling new disorder. When Mark further slips within the fortress of autism, Carolyn faces the unthinkable--institutionalizing her son.

At the same time, Carolyn's marriage starts to unravel, forcing her to abandon her identity as a people-pleasing housewife and enter the working world as a single woman. Facing a life she never bargained for, Carolyn sets out on a path of self-discovery.

Courageous, hopeful, and provocative, Untethered shows the unvarnished reality of one mother's experience with autism. It also teaches us that life's heartbreaks can illuminate the way toward spiritual growth and love.