Eating Disorder Memoirs

Revealing a startlingly accomplished voice, Evanna uses her book to delve into the very heart of a woman's relationship with her own body. Unwilling to let the darkness of her eating disorder eclipse her dreams, but afraid to fully release the certainty and safety of self-destruction, Evanna explores the pivotal moments and choices in her life that led her down the path of creativity and dreaming and away from the empty pursuit of perfection, and reaches towards acceptance of the wild, sensual and unpredictable reality of womanhood.

Millions of families are affected by eating disorders, which usually strike young women between the ages of fourteen and twenty. But current medical practice ties these families' hands when it comes to helping their children recover. Conventional medical wisdom dictates separating the patient from the family and insists that 'it's not about the food', even as a family watches a child waste away before their eyes.

As soon as we are born into the world, we are hungry. We have an instinctual need that must be regularly addressed. It’s a habitual tug that makes us human. We need food and nutrients to strengthen our bones, fill us up, and satisfy our cravings. When we are grown, we get the choice to decide what we do with that innate longing.

When Mallary Tenore Tarpley lost her mother at eleven years old, she wanted to stop time. If growing up meant living without her mother, then she wanted to stay little forever. What started as small acts of food restriction soon turned into a full-blown eating disorder, and a year later, Tarpley was admitted to Boston’s Children’s Hospital. With honesty and grace, Slip chronicles Tarpley’s childhood struggles with anorexia to her present-day experiences grappling with recovery. This book tells Tarpley’s story, but it also transcends her personal narrative.

To Erin Washington, soccer was everything. As a high school stand-out who had played since she was four years old, soccer became the prime focus of her obsessive-natured personality. After losing her identity as an athlete when her college career ended abruptly, Erin spent the next twenty years battling body image and hiding a dangerous secret.