Stork Boy

Bo is a bipolar I, primary presenting symptom is mania. She seems to function without continual medication. I’m a bipolar (NOS), at least in DSM-IV-R, primary presenting symptom is depression. I am motivated to stay on meds. Stork Boy has been tentatively dx’d as “Bipolar I with manic features, possibly Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type.” He doesn’t like the meds he seems to have had before. I worked with a woman of the latter dx. She was hella brilliant, and experienced synesthesia. Our brains work in much the same way—bright, thought processes not understood by the non-neurodiverse, creative, and Wanting to Know the answers to mental puzzles. Bo’s work uses all those, and all are demonstrated in this novel. Certainly there is a murder and mystery surrounding it—murder in the present day, the first night Bo arrives in France, outside the house exchange she’ll be in for two weeks, with her lover Andy, a pediatrician/pediatric specialist. Did you know she doesn’t speak French? Oh, dear. The murder case is convoluted, but because Stork Boy is different, often wanders at night, and has a record of two petty non-violent charges, conclusions are jumped to him being the prime suspect. Bo becomes interested in Stork Boy because she feels the injustice of someone like her—neurodiverse—being pegged as the convenient culprit just because of mental differences. She sees a bit of herself in him. She sees the unusual way they each approach artistic composition, once she’s seen his work in a cave. Once he’s run from the police, he stays up in a cave with no warm clothes, no heat, and no food. There’s about to be a freezing rain, another reason Bo wants to find him. There are several secondary characters well-fleshed out, and a local family who reminds one of the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. Lots of plot twists!