Welcome to Biscuit Land: A Year in the Life of Touretteshero Book

The blessed Jess Thom... who chose to embrace the condition to be open funny frank intelligent and enchantingly entertaining about it... Now she has been and gone and done and written this charming touching and valuable book. ; Stephen Fry ; ; "It is the hippies of outrageous fortune that weigh heavily on the minds of dogs." ; ; Meet Jess aka Touretteshero. Jess has Tourettes Syndrome which means that she makes sounds and movements over which she has no control. Jess swears she's one of about 10% of people with Tourettes who do. She says 'biscuit' a lot about 16 times per minute (that's 6 million a year!) and then there are the sometimes life-threatening arm and leg tics... ; ; Tourettes can be tough to live with often bringing out unpleasant behaviour in people who don't understand it but it can also be inspiring and above all funny. Jess's verbal tics are often truly surreal - "Leisurewear Velociraptor Training Party!" "Capital letters talk to themselves at night" or "If all the hoofed animals could count there wouldn't be a banking crisis." ; ; These excerpts from Jess's personal blog follow a year in her life and the whole spectrum of her experiences. We're introduced to her support network of close friends including Fat Sister Leftwing Idiot and King Russell as well as strangers who can be unpredictably helpful or hurtful. ; ; Moving funny shocking tender and inspiring Jess's words are courageous and optimistic in the face of the major challenges she faces. Welcome to Biscuit Land. ; ; ; Jess has written for the Guardian on disability issues and appeared in many TV and radio interviews. She was one of the most engaging contributors to Stephen Fry's Planet Word.