“[A] work of glittering brilliance . . . Highly recommended.” – Vancouver Sun
“With the same exacting precision Charlie uses to make his paper birds, Friesen has sensitively created a visceral, affecting narrative, folding in just the right amounts of compassion, elegance, horror, and wonder. The voices inside Universal Disorder will echo in your head long after turning the last page.” — Ashley Little, author of Niagara Motel and Anatomy of a Girl Gang
“How does a child born into poverty and abuse gain an adulthood worth living? For young Charlie — mentally disordered, gifted, sustained by a hidden intellect — the path leads from hardscrabble prairie to 1990s Montreal Goth culture, finally to blossoming love and particle physics. Bernice Friesen’s captivating second novel is equal parts heart-stirring and mind-bending, perfectly balancing the intimate with the cosmic.” — Jim Bartley, author of Drina Bridge and Makarska