Brave Girl Eating - Paperback

by Harriet Brown (Author)

"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 daughters, I wept for her. Then cheered."
--Joyce Maynard, author of Labor Day

In Brave Girl Eating, the chronicle of a family's struggle with anorexia nervosa, journalist, professor, and author Harriet Brown recounts in mesmerizing and horrifying detail her daughter Kitty's journey from near-starvation to renewed health. Brave Girl Eating is an intimate, shocking, compelling, and ultimately uplifting look at the ravages of a mental illness that affects more than 18 million Americans.

Front Jacket

I've never had anorexia, but I know it well. I see it on the street, in the gaunt and sunken face, the bony chest, the spindly arms of an emaciated woman. I've come to recognize the flat look of despair, the hopelessness that follows, inevitably, from years of starvation. I think: That could have been my daughter. It wasn't. It's not. If I have anything to say about it, it won't be.

In this emotionally resonant and compelling memoir, journalist and professor Harriet Brown takes readers--moment by moment, spoonful by spoonful--through her family's experience with the nightmare of anorexia. A guiding light for anyone touched by this devastating disease, Brave Girl Eating is essential reading for families and professionals alike.

--Joyce Maynard

Back Jacket

I've never had anorexia, but I know it well. I see it on the street, in the gaunt and sunken face, the bony chest, the spindly arms of an emaciated woman. I've come to recognize the flat look of despair, the hopelessness that follows, inevitably, from years of starvation. I think: That could have been my daughter. It wasn't. It's not. If I have anything to say about it, it won't be.

In this emotionally resonant and compelling memoir, journalist and professor Harriet Brown takes readers--moment by moment, spoonful by spoonful--through her family's experience with the nightmare of anorexia. A guiding light for anyone touched by this devastating disease, Brave Girl Eating is essential reading for families and professionals alike.