Lindas Book Obsession Reviews : “The Girls at 17 Swann Street” by Yara Zgheib, St. Martin’s Press, February 5, 2019

Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “The Girls at 17 Swann Street” by Yara Zgheib, St. Martin’s Press, Publishing February 5, 2019

Yara Zgheib, Author of “The Girls at 17 Swann Street” has written a poignant, heart-wrenching, emotional, enthralling novel. The author has an amazing way of writing a novel and describing the characters that is feels so realistic in every way. The Genres for this story are Fiction and Women’s Fiction, but it reads so much like a biography or non-fiction book. The timeline of the story is in the present , but goes to the past and future when it pertains to the  characters or events in the story. The author describes her characters as dysfunctional, troubled, complex, and complicated. This is a story of sisterhood, emotional support, growth, loss, love, hope and faith.

“The Girls at 17 Swann Street” is a novel of all kind of women with the most extreme of eating disorders that have to make a choice to live or die.  When they enter 17 Swann Street, they are signing many of their rights away. There is almost no where else to go.

Anna Roux is one of the main characters, and has entered 17 Swann Street at 88 pounds. She is begging her loving husband to take her home. Many of her bodily functions have shut down, and there is a plan set in place to restore her health. Anna was once a professional dancer, who never felt good enough. Anna is confronted with all kinds of restrictions. She is given 6 meals a day that she has to eat, or there are unpleasant consequences.  As a patient , Anna has a team working with her. She also becomes vested in some of the other girls that are there.

Unfortunately as the statistics show, a high percentage of the girls are not able to make it. This is an important book that describes honestly what happens in the world of people with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. I would highly recommend this book for readers who have experienced or know someone who has had an eating disorder, or want to try to understand more about this. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.