This is a smart, tender, heartbreaking, and insightful novel that takes us into the world of eating disorders–the denial, the dangers, the suffering, the treatment–touching on both hope and despair. It is masterfully portrayed with just the proper amount of realism for the lethality, the camaraderie that often occurs in such settings, and the chronicity that can be draining for patients and their families.

As a psychiatrist who has spent many years in the past few decades working with these disorders, I was initially reluctant to read this novel — after all, for me this is work and I read to escape. But Zgheib miraculously wove a story that took me completely out of that mindset and instead staying up late in the night to turn page after page, engrossed in this novel. I really have no idea how she did it except to say that the protagonist is compelling and insightful, and it is a true delight to spend time in her head despite (or maybe because of) her struggles. Zgheib’s pacing is perfectly executed and the writing is tight.

Prior to reading this debut novel, I knew nothing about the author. But when I later discovered that Yara Zgheib is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a PhD in International Affairs in Diplomacy from Centre D’études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris, the intelligence, kindness, and insight with which this novel is written made perfect sense.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and the author, Yara Zgheib for providing me a complimentary copy of THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to her next novel.

</b>4.0 Stars</b>
This was an excellent piece of fiction that provided insight into the experience of eating disorder recovery. Written in lyrical prose, the novel was a beautiful read. In terms of pacing, the narrative is quite slow, yet I found the story immersive because I am personally enamoured by the topic.

From all my research and personal experiences with disordered eating, I believe this to be a very accurate protrayal of restrictive anorexia disorder. The author understood that the anorexia stems from anxiety, control and disordered self image, rather than simply an obsession with weight. The story goes into great detail about the treatment centre appearance, which closely matched with the personal accounts I have heard. After reading the acknowledgements section, I suspect this may be an own voices story.

Given the topic, this novel could be triggering to someone in the throws of their own ED struggles. The descriptions of treatment were very detailed with frequent mentions of specific weights, BMIs and calories numbers. Yet, the tone of the novel itself was quite positive, since the story was focused on recovery rather than the toxic thoughts of a disordered mind. Over the course of the novel, we follow the protagonist's mental healing process as she strived towards weight restoration. This could be a very uplifting novel to someone suffering from an eating disorder or an informative read for anyone who wants to better understand the personal experience of anorexia.

I requested an ecopy from the publisher, St. Martins Press, via Netgalley.

Yara Zgheib's novel is a poignant tale of the private pain which drives a young woman to anorexia. "The Girls at 17 Swann Street" captivates and immerses readers in the world of inpatient behavioral health care for eating disorders. Anna, a young former ballerina, has struggled with anorexia for several years and has finally admitted she needs help. As her story unfolds, we discover that while her dysfunctional relationship with food clearly defines her view of herself and the world, the issue is not really about food at all. Anna is masking pain from various wounds by exerting control over her intake of food, and as she undergoes treatment for her eating disorder, she begins to face her demons rather than run from them. We get glimpses into other women's lives, as well, as Anna interacts with other patients.

While I have never struggled with an eating disorder, many years ago, I walked beside several friends who did. Another friend became a licensed counselor who specializes in eating disorders. This book re-immersed me in their worlds and took a hard, honest look at the dysfunctional relationship some people develop with food. While I enjoyed the book, I found some of the narrative and internal monologue disjointed. (Some of that, however, may have been due to the formatting of the e-book, which was an Advance Reader Copy and not a finished copy.) I also wish the author had allowed Anna to open up more with her therapist and begin a deeper process of healing. Anna begins to understand the roots of her disorder, but she refuses to acknowledge them or share her pain with others. She even continues to conceal much of her struggle from her beloved husband and refuses to share the underlying sorrows which drove her to anorexia.

"The Girls at 17 Swann Street" was an excellent immersion in the world of eating disorders, but I would not recommend it for readers who have struggled silently with anorexia or bulimia. The graphic expose of Anna's thought processes may be too great a temptation to revert. For those who want to understand the struggle, however, or for those who are openly dealing with their struggle with the support of family, friends, and mental health professionals, this book may be an excellent read.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

4 1/2 stars. What an enthralling story. At first I was put off buy the lack of quotation marks. I thought it might be an editing issue you sometime get in an ARC. But the deeper I got in to it, I realized it's because the whole story is in Anna's head. The whole book is a gut wrenching mental dialogue into her struggle with anorexia. I felt her pain and anxiety. I was invested in all the girls at 17 Swann Street. In fact, I was wishing for a fuller ending into what happened to all of them. However, I had two sore points with the plot. I didn't get enough of Anna's past. Clearly there was multiple issues that helped contribute to her slide into an eating disorder, but some were merely mentioned and not really covered in depth. And I felt that she progressed a bit too quickly through the treatment stages. That being said, this was a truly compelling story and I recommend reading it if you get the chance.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This will not be an easy read for some. It does deal with eating disorders. That said, this is one of the best books I have read dealing with this issue. It is raw and gritty. It is also so she opening of how the illness can destroy the person and the family around them. An absolute beautiful story.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib

An interesting and close up look at eating disorders, The Girls at 17 Swann Street all suffer from one illness or another. Some make it, others don’t, but there is no cure for any of them. These diseases are life- long battles.

Yara Zgheib gives us a window to the perils of anorexia nerviosa in particular, as the protagonist, Anna, reaches for help to overcome her illness. We feel her pain and isolation as she goes day by day suffering in virtual silence as each girl there fears to reveal too much of herself.

Zgheib educates us in an easy to read-and-learn format, pulling on some emotional strings as Anna pays her dues at the Swann Street facility.

I suggest this as a good story for an introduction to the difficulty and pain of eating disorders. You will cheer for each girl as she struggles for the strength to win the war over her specific eating related problem.

Genre: Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub. Date: February 5, 2019

Due to the Goodreads blurb (The chocolate went first, then the cheese, the fries, the ice cream. The bread was more difficult, but if she could just lose a little more weight) the reader knows right away that the story will revolve around a young female with an eating disorder. Author Yara Zgheib is a Fulbright scholar which explains her intelligent yet poignant prose. Her novel is inspired by her own experience with the disease. The story is eerily similar to the movie “Girl Interrupted,” the true story of Susanna Kaysen (played by Winona Ryder). Different mental disorders, but both are heartbreaking stories of girls living in a treatment center fighting a disease that can take their life. Both characters are at a crossroad between deciding to live in such a facility forever or to attempt to re-join society—like all addictions, easier said than done.

Since I skipped the blurb, I wasn’t aware of the book’s subject matter. I probably wouldn’t have picked this novel to review because I am someone who has lived long enough to have heard and read countless female celebs who have talked of their anorexia/bulimia during interviews and/or read of their disorder in their autobiographies. Plus, I grew up in the age of Twiggy. Back then all of us girls starved ourselves to look like her. In the 1960s, at least where I grew up, no one had ever even heard of the term “eating disorder.” For me, the disease didn’t seriously enter my consciousness until 1983 when singer Karen Carpenter died due to heart failure brought on by her unpublicized anorexia. On a personal note, for someone who survived the “Twiggy look,” it was disheartening to observe the skinniness fetish make a comeback in the “heroin chic” look of the 1990s.

With that said, I applaud that the author frequently mentions the inpatients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTS). In real-life, experiencing some sort of brutality, mental as well as physical, is how PTS can manifest itself into an eating disorder. These are the unlucky girls and young women who usually die from starving or binging or both. I was similarly impressed that the author, in a debut novel, tackled using a complicated writing style. The story is told in different fonts. One for internal thoughts and another for external words, there is also a third style. It is used as the sort of commentary that you would find in a medical journal. This is how Zgheib weaves education into the plot to enlighten the reader throughout the novel.

In a nutshell, I can safely write that if you are struggling with the disorder yourself, or if you are unfamiliar with the topic, this story will make you cry (skeletal women gasping to breathe), and learn (the causes of the disease) and hopefully grow (in the tradition of other addictions one is never considered cured, but may learn to live a good life). However, I suggest that you skip this one if you have read the many other titles out there on the subject, such as, “Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia” or “Brave Girl Eating: A Family's Struggle with Anorexia.” “Swann Street” is a good novel, but I didn’t find anything new in the story that wasn’t said before.

This was an amazing book written by an author who bares her soul in this fictionalized account of a young woman with anorexia and her painful recovery. Anna, a Parisian ballerina injures her knee and must come to terms with the fact that she won't dance again. In spite of the love of her husband, Matthias, father and sister she continues to lose weight and reaches a dangerous 88 pounds.. Her husband finally faces the severity of her illness and helps her check in to 17 Swann Street, a group home/care center for women trying to overcome eating disorders. Not all are as lucky as Anna, who has the support of a loving father and a husband who visits her daily. And Anna is not willing to face her problems at first, nor deal with the tragedies of her youth. It is with the help of the girls at 17 Swann Street that Anna is able to admit her problems and work to become a healthy, functioning adult. We realize she will never be completely free of the disease, but Anna is finally willing to work to be healthy.

I loved this book!!!!
This book takes the you into the world of eating disorders and body images. It is a beautiful work that captures the reality of fear of food, cognitive thoughts, coping skills, the rules we set for ourselves to cope with change, going down "the rabbit hole", seeking help, and fear of losing the 1 thing you can control. I laughed, I sighes.
Wonderful and realistic character development
I could not get enough of this book the whole way routing for all of the girls at 17 Swann
"I am not cured, I am not ready, I am terrified of what is coming. But I lift my chin higher. Keep walking Anna....
5 stars

"I tell people I am a dancer. I have not danced in years, though. I work as a cashier in a supermarket but my real occupation is anorexia."

First of all, this book needs a trigger warning! If you feel unsettled or triggered by eating disorders, mental illnesses like depression, and self harm, please skip this one! It's a great book but does not sugarcoat anything.

This book was sincerely good. At first, it feels a little choppy in the writing, but you quickly come to realize that it's just following the way someone struggling with these mental illnesses may be thinking. In actuality, the way it is written starts to flow and you consider that the choppiness is working for the book instead of against it. The representation of mental health (sub category: primarily eating disorders) is done really well and respectfully here. The author doesn't make things look better than they are, but she writes about the harsh reality in the right way. Some of the chapters seem a bit repetitive at times, but I think that's simply because progress isn't linear, and this book is supposed to be showing the struggles a woman goes through while suffering from an eating disorder. In real life, some days really are repetitive.

The book goes back and forth between past and present but in a way that always uses the past to highlight or add context to the present moment. We also get to see the forms that Anna's recovery team put together, so readers get a look at what is happening to her outside of her own mind. The characters in the book are all the kind that you want to hug their pain away, so it's easy to get attached and emotional in this one. However, I really loved that the author included these friendships and relationships. It truly shows the way that spouses, friends, and family cope with their loved one's mental illness and how these relationships can be impacted. It was a great addition to the book to include so much of Matthias. Everyone has a reason to keep fighting, and sometimes they need to put that into another person. Matthias is that for Anna.

Overall, the book was just really good and real and honest and raw and I feel like it's 110% worth reading.

This is the most honest description of eating disorders I have ever read. I know nothing about the author but I feel she has invited the reader into to her world of fear and her very real struggle with death. It's hard for most people to understand anorexia. Those people might ask how can a person not eat? How can a person look in the mirror and not see their bones sticking out? This is the book they can read to answer their questions. No one ever starts out wanting to starve themselves. It's just like the person who takes their first drink never wants to become an alcoholic. It's a disease that hides inside some unlucky people waiting to be triggered.

The writing is captivating as the author describes what it's like to be in a treatment facility where eating is mandatory. The characters are well written and their loneliness is palpable. Their daily battle with the disease that is killing them rings true. This is not an easy book to read because the experience and characters are so realistic. My compliments to the author for an amazing book.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from St Martin's Press through NetGalley for the purpose of review. I was happy to voluntarily write an honest review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#TheGirlsat17SwannStreet #NetGalley

People with eating disorders are often dismissed as having made a "choice" and that they should just stop. This book brings to light the real struggles that are present as Anna and the girls at 17 Swann Street work to recover (and it is work!). The author gives what seems like a very authentic look into Anna's mind and the difficulties she experiences in trying to overcome her disease. I think anyone who reads this book will see anorexia and bulimia for the diseases they truly are. You will feel Anna's pain and rejoice in her victories.

This book was provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.
This book was so good, raw, touching and so real. I really enjoyed it. My heart breaks for these women as they fight their disease. Highly recommend reading!

Wow. That is what I thought as I finished 'The Girls at 17 Swann Street'.
Eating disorders are often whispered out, hinted at, gossiped about, and rarely truly talked about.
Yara Zgheib's DEBUT novel broke my heart soo many times and gave me such insight into trying to understand people who struggle with eating disorders. Yes, trying as every person who struggles with an eating disorder is different.

Anna's story into the how and why she became anorexic and how she ends up at 17 Swann Street is probably one of the most true, deep, moving, thought provoking pieces of fiction I have read in a long time.

17 Swann Street is a treatment center for women with eating disorders. There is a full realm of them amongst the supporting characters. You are also brutally aware that choosing to accept the treatment MUST be for yourself not someone else as Anna struggles with that due to feeling like she failed her husband and her family. It is also a choice that can mean the difference in life or death. The mental health aspects are discussed in a way that did not make me feel like it disparaged those who suffer from eating disorders.

I thank Netgalley for the ARC.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a heartrending look at the life of an anorexic and the struggle to get back to some sort of normalcy. Anna was a professional ballerina, who married and left Paris with her husband for a life in the Midwest. With him working crazy hours, and Anna not able to find a job dancing, she started to control her diet to stay in shape. With each food item she eliminated from her diet, she lost a little more control until anorexia became her way of life.

Her husband and family saw the toll it was taking on her body and intervened. But will this intervention be enough to save her, or is it too late? For so many autistic patients, there is no way back to health and this novel is difficult to read at times, but that is what makes it so good. I highly recommend The Girls at 17 Swann Street. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for making this ARC available for my honest review.

A haunting look into eating disorders that gives the reader an idea of what this disease can do to a person. This book made me cry, cringe, and feel hopeful all in one sitting.

I was fortunate to be asked by the book publisher to head to NETGALLEY and check out this book. I am so very glad that I did. The main plot is driven by the fact that the main character, Anna Roux, a professional French dancer, married for three years, is battling anorexia nervosa. Now, I have read a few books and watched a lot of movies about anorexia and bulimia and they are mostly portrayed by teenage girls. So it was very refreshing to see how this disease gradually takes over an adult woman's life.

Like Anna, The Girls at 17 Swann Street are battling eating disorders and this book doesn't sugarcoat the treatments and offers a realistic portrayal of how people think and feel. Yara Zghieb invokes plenty of emotion in the writing of this novel and her various characters show us the many layers and complexities of living with an eating disorder. We see women who lose the battle and those who have struggled with it for many years. What I thought was so realistic is that although we see Anna supported by her beautiful husband, Matthias, this is contrasted by others who have no one. This just makes the book all more realistic and genuine in tackling such a subject that is rarely touched upon in women's fiction.

Trigger warning: I do not recommend this for people who are currently suffering from an eating disorder or are just starting recovery simply because it feels so realistic and relapsing is a thing.

Wow. I’m not sure where to start with this book. It hit me really hard.

As the trigger warning indicates, this is a book about eating disorders. The girls at 17 Swann Street all suffer from a toxic relationship with food. Most of the 7 girls (or women, really) are anorexics but there’s also a couple of bulimics.

We follow Anna, a young French woman who has followed her husband Matthias to the States, where had to move for work. Matthias spends a lot of time at work and Anna is stuck at home in their apartment in a foreign country with little else in her life than waiting for her husband to get home.

Anna used to be a ballet dancer until she had an injury. And of course as a dancer the environment was already extremely competitive and there was a lot of focus on weight. So she started even then to shrink from being a real person with a full life to being someone who obsesses about food and cutting out more and more from her diet, losing more weight, training harder, and she’s still not good enough. She pushes herself too hard and gets injured.

With the injury and the ensuing move to the US, Anna loses the last bit of herself that was not a food obsession: the joy of dancing and the relationships with her family (to a large extent her husband as well as he’s working a lot). Things start to completely unravel. And at the point where she is admitted to Swann Street she is barely alive, surviving on apples and popcorn, doing extreme workouts and with a BMI of – I think – 15. Severely underweight.

The book switches back and forth between Anna’s past both in France and after the move to the US, and present time in the treatment facility. This switching back and forth and the use of italics gets confusing, as it’s often not clear what time we’re currently in or if someone is speaking. Though it’s possible this is only a problem with the digital ARC that I have received. And once you sort of learn to go with it, it doesn’t put a dent in the power of the story.

And that power lies partly in how real it feels. Compared to Anna I have only “dabbled in” eating disorders, and was never institutionalised for it, but I remember so well the exhaustion, the obsession and compulsive behaviour, how your world shrinks to just thinking about what to eat (or mostly what not to eat). I believe the author must either have personal experience with eating disorders, or that someone very close to her went through something like this, to get it to ring so true.

This book was not only believable, but also incredibly beautiful and touching. Not just in the language but in the sweet moments of fractured hope, and in the strong love between Anna and her family, and the bonds between the women at 17 Swann Street. I found it heartbreaking that these women who are so cruel to themselves and their own bodies are so kind, understanding and fiercely loyal to each other.

There is a lot of sadness and despair in this novel, but there is hope and beauty too – and that for me is what elevates it. It made me cry from both sorrow and joy (even when retelling parts of it to J in a café..), it made me reflect on life and be grateful. It has been a long time since I struggled with anorexia now, but I still remember it vividly. And my relationship with food is still fraught. But I am grateful that I have come this far. That I can genuinely enjoy food (a bit too much at times..) and feel that it nourishes me. I can appreciate the miracle that is my body, appreciate my strength, my health and my mind.

And I am grateful for this beautiful book, for reminding me of the struggle and that despite it there is always hope, love and kindness.

An incredible read following the life of a dancer from Paris that has anorexia. It starts with day one of her treatment at 17 Swann Street. The book is well written with flashbacks to her history. Amazing details of what life is like with anorexia - the thought processes and the feelings. Well done!

Yara Zgheib's heartbreaking and lyrical debut takes us into the world of eating disorders, how they can arise and the devastating impact on both sufferers and their circles of friends and family. It begins with the 26 year old Anna Roux entering 17 Swann Street, a residential medical treatment house inhabited by vulnerable and fragile women. As the narrative goes back and forth in time, we learn of Anna's dedication to her career as a professional ballet dancer in Paris, an ex-boyfriend who damaged Anna's self esteem, her wonderfully loving husband, Matthias and her injured leg. Matthias is offered a opportunity to work in Missouri in the United States which Anna is happy to support. However, an isolated and lonely Anna is plagued by her insecurities and fears as her life spirals out of control with depression and anorexia, and she weighs a mere 88lbs.

A young Anna feels more like an old woman as Zgeib outlines the struggles of the women, their stories, their setbacks, and their support of each other. We get insights into their complicated and distorted relationship with food, their inner world of anxieties, self destructive impulses, esteem issues and more. Matthias finds himself out of his depth and feeling helpless but he loves Anna, and it is this love that drives Anna's desire to get better. Zgeib writes with humanity, compassion, knowledge and authenticity in her character driven portrayal of the mental health issues surrounding eating disorders. I found this a raw, intense and emotional read which is brilliant in its characterisation and the medical issues it examines. An excellent book which I recommend highly. Many thanks to Beatrice and St Martin's Press for an ARC.