We have described a patient who suffered from agnostic alexia without agraphia, accompanied by color agnosia. The alexia affected languages read in opposite directions. The patient was found to have a vascular malformation of the left posterior cerebral artery. This case is outstanding because of the patient’s complete recovery from the alexia in all the languages she knew. In an attempt to explain the process of recovery from agnostic alexia, we have introduced a new concept, that of ‘functional disconnection syndrome’.