Paperweight

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Struggling to deal with her brother's death and a past she refuses to confront, Stevie knows she has problems. But she's still furious about the fact that she's been packed off to a health clinic, in the middle of nowhere, where mobile phones are banned and communication with the outside world is strictly by permission only. The regimented and obtrusive nature of the clinic and its staff is torture to the deeply private, obstinate Stevie - and don't even get her started on the other 'inmates'. All she wants is to be left alone...

But as Stevie is about to find out, life is full of surprises. And she will prove herself stronger than she knows - even when her past finally catches her up in the most shocking and brutal way possible.

[A] captivating and realistic portrayal or living (or dying) with an eating disorder

Préface
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Auteur
Meg Haston is both a survivor and a mental health counselor. Meg first conceived of PAPERWEIGHT when she spent time in a treatment center for disordered eating in Arizona. Like her character Stevie, she could bring nothing but a small suitcase of clothes-no books, no phone, no computer. But she was allowed to write. In-between group meals and individual sessions, Stevie was born into the pages of Meg's journal. Meg now practices at a women's clinic and a school in Florida, and has worked in conjunction with Projection HEAL (Help to Eat, Accept, and Live), spreading awareness about eating disorders and the recovery process. She is also a regular contributor to gURL.com, where her video series, 'How to Deal with Meg Haston', addresses mental and emotional health concerns for adolescent girls. Meg is also the author of the middle grade series HOW TO ROCK... which inspired a Nickelodeon TV spin-off. Follow Meg on Twitter: @meghaston

Texte du rabat

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped.

In her life. In her body. And now in a treatment centre on the outskirts of the New Mexico desert.

Life in the centre is regimented and intrusive - a nightmare come true for private and obstinate Stevie. She doesn't want life to get better - she wants to disappear. And if things go her way, in twenty-seven days she'll do exactly that.

Résumé

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Struggling to deal with her brother's death and a past she refuses to confront, Stevie knows she has problems. But she's still furious about the fact that she's been packed off to a health clinic, in the middle of nowhere, where mobile phones are banned and communication with the outside world is strictly by permission only. The regimented and obtrusive nature of the clinic and its staff is torture to the deeply private, obstinate Stevie - and don't even get her started on the other 'inmates'. All she wants is to be left alone...

But as Stevie is about to find out, life is full of surprises. And she will prove herself stronger than she knows - even when her past finally catches her up in the most shocking and brutal way possible.

Échantillon de lecture

"Stevie," she says again. "Let me assure you that you do, in fact, need to be here. You are incredibly malnourished. If you don't get intensive treatment right now, you are going to die. My guess is that you may even want to die."

Finally, we understand each other.

"So for now, I'll want you to live enough for the both of us. Maybe you could want that too, eventually."

What I want is to get back on schedule. Ticktock.

"So . . . signing myself out?"

She clasps her hands together in her lap. "Since you're seventeen, you won't be able to check yourself out. Dad would have to do that. And he's made it clear that he wants you to be here for the full sixty days. Longer, if necessary."

My body caves like she's just knocked the wind out of me. She's saying something else now, something about "recovery with a capital R." She's probably telling me that this could be the first day of the rest of my life. That's what Dad told me on the way to the airport.

Sixty days. Her schedule is . . . inconvenient. Doesn't she know that the Anniversary is only twenty-seven days away? I've planned this day with exquisite attention to detail. Choreographed my every move-with more than a few missteps, I know-for nearly a year.

I will find a way out of here, I tell myself. I'll call Eden, get her to buy me a ticket. Hitch a ride to the airport. Whatever I have to do to make it home in time to die. I will not betray Josh again. I will not take a single breath on the one-year anniversary of the night I killed my brother.