Late Bloomer cover art

Late Bloomer

How an autism diagnosis changed my life

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Late Bloomer

By: Clem Bastow
Narrated by: Clem Bastow
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Clem Bastow grew up feeling like she’d missed a key memo on human behaviour. She found the unspoken rules of social engagement confusing, arbitrary and often stressful. Friendships were hard, relationships harder and the office was a fluorescent-lit nightmare of anxiety. It wasn’t until Clem was diagnosed as autistic, at age 36, that things clicked into focus. The obsession with sparkly things and dinosaurs. The encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music. The meltdowns that would come on like a hurricane. The ability to write eloquently while conquering basic maths was like trying to understand ancient Greek. These weren’t just ‘personality quirks’ but autistic traits that shaped Clem’s life in powerful ways.

With wit and warmth, Clem reflects as an autistic adult on her formative experiences as an undiagnosed young person, from the asphalt playground of St Joseph's Primary School in Melbourne to working as an entertainment journalist in Hollywood. Along the way she challenges the broader cultural implications and ideas around autism, especially for women and gender-diverse people.

©2021 Clem Bastow. First published by Hardie Grant Publishing Pty Ltd. (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing Children's Health Neurodiversity People with Disabilities Relationships Autism Special Need Health
All stars
Most relevant  
Clem uses her personal experience of receiving a relatively late-in-life Autism diagnosis as a framework for exploring the diverse experiences of Autistic people. Her story itself is interesting, with some moments that made me laugh out loud and others that made me feel very sad. She's an engaging narrator, too, and I'm glad I decided to listen to this book rather than to wait until I could buy a physical copy once my city's current lockdown ends.

An excellent listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As a late bloomer myself, I found a sense of belonging while listening to Clem Bastow. This is a great memoir but with tremendously important information about autism and why we need to stop pathologising it and other neurodivergences. Wonderful book!

Actually Awesomely Autistic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book/audiobook for the time poor or ADHD’s has loads of relatable content and anecdotes whilst a sense of realism is maintained. Thank you for seeing me and allowing us to share in who you are.

Relatable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If Autism in Heels can be represented as a pair of Louboutins, dripping in pretty pageantry, lipstick & pretty dresses, Late Bloomer is autism in Doc Martins, in the Australian music & journalistic scenes. Thoroughly enjoyable & entertaining while being insightful, firmly grounded in research & entertaining to boot.

Autism in Doc Martins

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great to read a story from someone diagnosed later in life, really validating and inspiring. Also very entertaining, really enjoyed Clem!

What I needed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a really affirming wonderful read. Clem’s story tells us about an Australian Woman, navigating the world and her early life knowing somethings isn’t quite right although leading a successful life and then finding out well into adulthood what the reasons for this feeling might be. It’s funny, informative, interesting. I only gave it one less star because although it’s a fantastic biography and has good info and research in it, I wish it had called out the internal biases about autism even harder so I could gift this book as a starter kit to the suspected high masking unidentified autistic people in my life who are struggling and still haven’t found their answers. Definitely one of the better biographies I’ve read in this topic though!

Fantastic read for late identified autistic people

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So, I've always been curious about autism, and at the time of reading this was romantically interested in a man who opened up to me that he's on the autism spectrum. I read this book whilst simultaneously proceeding carefully into a courtship with this person, and it was interesting both learning to spot the synchronicities in the book but also observing them in real life when spending time with him.

Bastow's take on Autism was surprisingly light-hearted, childlike and through a lens of pure curiosity. I vibed very positively with it, and the story she told of her experience at Chadstone Shopping Centre made me laugh so much, being a fellow Victorian. It didn't help that I was listening to the audible book at 1.5x speed, so her quick and witty observations amplified her already hyper speed thoughts on things.

It really helped me understand the inner dialogue that can happen, and the emotions that are often tethered, to these inner conversations. It helped me understand just how magical a brain like this works, and I found I identified with a lot of the creative processes she also experiences. I do not identify as being on the spectrum and recognise that after some deconditioning, I was responding to the world in a hyper stimulated state, but it does now make me aware of the different textures of autism and has really helped shape the way I think about autism.

Highly recommended. Love supporting Aussie literature. What a beautiful and unique way to express the colourful inner world of autism.

The colourful and hyper creative world of autism

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved the way Clem weaves threads of coming of age, autistic identity, gender and sexuality as well as little tidbits of statistics and research. Also so delicious to see platforming actually autistic voices.

Resonates so deeply

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this marvelously resonant. the delivery was comforting for the duration and has strengthened my confidence of direction in seeking my own diagnosis and more importantly understanding of my divergence. thank you for sharing and for a fantastic experience .

a wave of hope

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
thank you Clem for writing this, I'm on my journey to diagnosis, welcome to the club 💕

honest engaging and informative and so relatable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.