Documents the author's teenage struggles with anorexia, sharing her and her mother's perspectives regarding a five-year period marked by anxiety and self-destructive efforts to manage the disorder, offering an intimate look at a deadly disease.

"One of the most up to date, relevant, and honest accounts of one family's battle with the life threatening challenges of anorexia. Brown has masterfully woven science, history, and heart throughout this compelling and tender story." -Lynn S. Grefe, Chief Executive Officer, National Eating Disorders Association "As a woman who once knew the grip of a life-controlling eating disorder, I held my breath reading Harriet Brown's story. As a mother of...

"Clare Dunkle seemed to have an ideal life--two beautiful, high-achieving teenage daughters, a loving husband, and a satisfying and successful career as a children's book novelist. But it's when you let down your guard that the ax falls. Just after one daughter successfully conquered her depression, another daughter developed a life-threatening eating disorder. Co-published with Elena Vanishing, the memoir of her daughter, this is the story--told...

The author shares her lifelong battle with bulimia and anorexia, chronicling her secret life of bingeing and purging and her obsession with food and body image, substance abuse, and sex.

The author shares her twenty-year experience as a "functional anorexic" and her journey to recovery and examines recent discoveries that have been made about the illness, including its connection to autism, OCD, and metabolic rate.