Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia is obsessed with being the skinniest person she knows- so obsessed in fact that she has done inpatient treatment for anorexia twice. Lia has learned how to deceive her family while in fact she obsessively counts calories, starves and cuts herself (to let the fat and pain leak out of her body) in order to continue to shed pounds. Up until a few months ago, Lia had her best friend Cassie and they pushed each other to be as skinny as possible but then Cassie decided that Lia was the cause of all the problems in her life and dumped her. That didn’t stop Cassie from calling her thirty-three times the night she died though nor has it stopped her ghost from following Lia around

Laurie Halse Anderson’s newest novel is a heart-wrenching, painfully realistic examination of one girls struggle to find acceptance as she battles intense psychological and physical demons. The first-person narrative is gripping and powerful and paints an unsettling portrait of a girl teetering precariously close to losing everything- including her life. Anderson provides stunning insights into the grip that eating disorders can have, particularly on young women already struggling with dysfunctional families and poor self-esteem. Readers are pulled so deeply into Lia’s psychological torment that the novel can be disturbingly difficult to read at times yet is impossible to put down.