How can a slim, pretty, intelligent girl come to believe she’s a fat, grotesque ‘monster’?
‘Hey, Francesca, what’s wrong with you anyway . . . you on a diet?’
‘Kind of.’
‘But you don’t have to diet. You’re thin.’
Francesca is five-foot four, pretty, slim and intelligent - at least that’s how she appears to the rest of the world. But what she sees when she looks at her reflection is a fat, flabby, grotesque ‘monster’. That’s when the idea comes to her: fat Francesca must die to make way for a new girl, slim Kessa. Suddenly, meals become dangerous to her. Food is the enemy, and must be beaten! But what starts as determination soon turns into a frightening obsession - anorexia nervosa - with everyone but Kessa realising that her life is in danger. The struggle by Kessa’s family - and her doctor - to bring her back to normality makes this a fascinating and moving story.