Heartbreaking, Gut-Wrenching, real… these are the words and phrases that come to mind after reading this novel. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down, even though I read ninety-five percent of it with tears in my eyes. The author’s dive into Anna’s mind and struggle present a gut-wrenching look at the life of someone with an eating disorder, specifically someone who is so close to the point of no return. The portrayals were so realistic, it’s scary, and I can’t see how it could get worse for someone, but am just as sure it can. You find yourself rooting for Anna and the other girls, sharing their heartbreak, and praying that they will be stronger than the disease that has taken over their body and mind and hopeful that they can triumph, though the struggle will probably never end, even if treatment does.
This was a beautiful and stunning debut novel and I am excited to see how Zgheib follows it up.
#TheGirlsat17SwannStreet #YaraZgheib #TheGirlfriend #StMartinsPress

It's Monday an Anna is checking into 17 Swann Street. Anna is a dancer, a daughter, a sister, a wife to Matthias and she has anorexia. All the girls at 17 Swann Street have some type of eating disorder. Their days are filled with scheduled meals, therapy sessions and meal planning with a nutritionist. They can't go outside or use the bathroom without permission. All this in an effort to get them to an ideal weight and BMI. Anorexia is a disease and Anna has come to 17 Swann Street to conquer it. Will she be successful?

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Anorexia is not a disease I am familiar with, although I can say I have my own struggles with food and weight. Personally, this book was quite interesting for me to read at this particular time in my life. Most of us make resolutions at the beginning of the year that has something to do with our weight or overall health, and I am no exception to this.

Imagine if the only food you ate were apples and popcorn. I love popcorn as much as the next person, but I don't think I could survive on it and Anna isn't. When her husband finds her collapsed on their bathroom floor, they can no longer avoid the issue at hand. She hasn't been eating and he loves her too much to let this continue, to allow her to kill herself. But does she love him and herself enough to stop? At 17 Swann Street, she meets other girls who are maybe her age, maybe younger. It's hard to tell the way this disease ravages your body. So the goal is to eat whatever food you are given(3 meal, 3 snacks) with no exceptions. You don't follow the rules, you face the consequences.

This is a book where you are routing for everyone to win. It will stay with you for a long time, the author has painted vivid images of what the girls at 17 Swann Street look like. The girls work together to help themselves and each other. I highly recommend this book.

This debut novel is a beautifully written sad journey into a home for women struggling with eating disorders. It is a hard read that will shock you and sadden you, but it is also hopeful. As someone who has never dealt with eating disorders or homes of this sort, this was all new information for me. The author does a wonderful job of putting readers into the head of the main character - a former ballerina who has entered treatment as a last result to save herself and her marriage. It is all told through Anna's voice, but you get to know the other women living at 17 Swann Street throughout the novel. Since the book aims to be a realistic representation of these situations, there are traumatic scenes and scenes that will leave you in tears. However, the author does provide the reader with glimpses of hope. I appreciated how hard the author worked at explaining the mindset of individuals struggling with eating disorders, as well as showing the difficulty of overcoming. Overall, I recommend this book but feel the need to say it contains obvious triggers.

A poignant novel about the incessant struggles of living with an eating disorder. Thank you Net Galley for the privilege of reading the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The pros- I found this novel beautifully written and very informative for someone who is not familiar with the struggles and loneliness of living with an eating disorder. I loved the relationships between the girls living in the house on Swann Street although sadly, the disease often came between and first in the friendships.

The cons- Only one AND it may have to do with it being a downloaded digital ARC copy. I had to really slow down at times to understand who was speaking, what was being thought and what was actually being said. There were sentences that were written in an italicized font, but I still found myself at times questioning the thoughts and conversations.

4 My Emotions Are All Over the Place Stars!!!

This book is a complete mental, emotional and physical journey for both me as the reader and Anna as our heroine. Anna is a ballerina and has suffered from anorexia nervosa for years and is getting help with this debilitating disease within the peach walls of 17 Swann Street. This is a place where several women are trying to overcome their struggle with food and body image.

Ms. Zgheib does an amazing job telling a story that screams accuracy while we delve into Anna's story, as this book is all from her POV. It's very clear to me that so much research went into this book and as a person that has had a friend fight this same battle, I was highly invested in Anna and her battle.

Anna wants to get back to the woman that used to eat and love life for the simple pleasures and not the demands of what being a prima ballerina requires of her and her body. She's in love with her husband but that relationship is jeopardy as well. As we move through this book, we see Anna's past in little vignettes which brings a clear picture of how she came to where she is today.

This book is not for the faint of heart because there will be emotions that you're not expecting to be feeling from angry to hurt to sadness. There are so many things I loved about this book and I'm so glad I took the chance even though I knew I'd probably cry. This is an outstanding debut novel for this very talented author and I'm looking forward to reading her future books!

17 Swann Street…It’s the peachy pink house where patients with eating disorders are sent for treatment, not always by their own decision; the condition is so insidious, it can be difficult to decide that for yourself.

Anna Roux arrives at Swann Street as a former professional dancer. She gets sicker and sicker and finds herself weighing less than ninety pounds. At the house, she meets Emm, Valerie, and Julia. They seek comfort together and walk the rigorous path of treatment.

Yara Zgheib brings these women’s stories to life with lyrical writing. It is a dark, haunting, authentic journey, with bumps, bruises, baby steps forward, and leaps backward.

The girls learn that through each other, the path to healing is easier. The balance of that dynamic is tenuous, formidable, emotional.

I was enrolled in dance at a young age. I was tall for my age and that would dismay my dance teachers who wanted a perfect “formation” line. I couldn’t control my height, and early on, I equated “tall” with “big.” When dance becomes a big part of your identity, how others define you becomes ingrained in your soul. So, in that respect, I could relate to the topics in this book, to some of the feelings of the women.

Overall, I found The Girls at 17 Swann Street to be a thoughtful, important, realistic portrayal of this disease. There’s brutal honesty and steadfast hope and everything in between present in Anna’s story.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Perhaps it’s just me but naming the main character ‘Anna’ in a story about an anorexic seems tone-deaf…

Yara Zgheib’s novel, The Girls at 17 Swann Street, focuses on a small treatment facility for women with eating disorders and in particular, Anna, an ex-ballerina.

Anorexia is the same story told every time by a different girl.

I chose this book because of the mental health angle. I find the pathology of eating disorders interesting and to a certain extent, Anna provided insight –

Eventually, I also stopped searching. And dairy, and answering my phone. And wearing makeup, but at least I was not fat anymore.

The story highlighted the fact that eating disorders are not purely the domain of teenage girls. Anna is in her twenties and married to Matthias – before she became unwell, they were hoping to have a baby.

Despite the interesting perspective, the book fell short for a number of reasons. Firstly, the opportunity to explore Matthias’s own guilt and complicity in Anna’s condition was skimmed over. Matthias felt partially responsible for Anna’s situation and while logically one might take the view that the person with an eating disorder is ultimately the one deciding what they do or don’t put in their mouth, it is inevitable that family and friends question their role in the situation.

And so she ate nothing and they both ate lies through three years of marriage, for peace, at the occasional cost of no more roller coasters, no more sharing ice cream and French fries.

Secondly, Anna’s recovery progresses relatively quickly and smoothly – the focus is on her calorie intake and changed behaviour at the dinner table, as opposed to the psychological (which is problematic given that anorexia and bulimia are mental disorders with a physical manifestation).

Lastly, the ‘creative’ approach to punctuation – grrrr. I’m not a pedant but the lack of punctuation in this book was irritating and detracted from the scenes where there was dialogue.

If you want to read about eating disorders, I reckon Sonya Hartnett’s Butterfly (fiction) and Portia de Rossi’s Unbearable Lightness (her memoir – it’s bananas) are better starting points.

2/5 Disappointing.

I received my copy of The Girls at 17 Swann Street from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A haunting look at a disease that is so hard to overcome. I'm far from knowledgeable about those who struggle with anorexia, have no personal connection to anyone who has, what I know comes from reading about the subject. How it effects everyone who cares or loves the person, how hard it is to watch a loved one melting away, and not able to do anything that helps. I just can't imagine the pain.

The pressure on our girls, on us a women to be thin is a terrible thing. Some vocations though value thiness more than others, dancers, gymnastics, models, ice sisters, all under an inordinate amount of pressure. In this novel Anna is a former ballet dancer, but there are many reasons she becomes anorexia, these we find out while she tells her story. At a meager 88 lbs, she is admitted to Swann street, a residential treatment center for girls, women with eating disorders. She will meet and make friends with others who are struggling, they will lean on and help each other, highs and lows.

What made this book work for me was that the characters were so likable. It was easy to cheer for them, wince as they struggled, and just feel a great deal of empathy. This is a subject that needed to be written about, given much more attention, brought to the forefront of conversations. A touching read, but an informative one as well.

ARC from Netgalley.

As much as I think that (1) mental illnesses should be talked about, (2) people should be aware and educated on these topics, and (3) feel free to speak about them to others to help them overcome their struggles, I’m also not usually the targeted audience for the books that are focused on “mental illnesses”. Normally I wouldn’t even pick them up.

«The Girls at 17 Swan Street» sounded like something I might enjoy, and besides, we are bound to leave our comfort zone from time to time. This was my attempt of trying something different, of expanding my reading horizons.

«My name is Anna. I am a dancer, a constant daydreamer.»

I don’t think that all ballerinas or athletes suffer from some form of eating disorder, but these activities/professions are definitely very demanding, and often disturb eating habits of athletes. It is also something that we have seen before in movies, in TV shows, and in books.

Was the story original? No. But that fact doesn’t make the book any less important.

It was interesting to see Anna’s point of view. Her character was very well developed and vivid.
But, I just didn’t care enough.

It is obvious that when talking about anorexia or any other mental illness, we need to see the backstory, what led the person to this state. And we were given some of that, for example, Anna’s relationship with her previous boyfriend, Anna’s relationship with Mattias, her family, and friends that she left in Paris. But I felt like I needed more than a few glimpses of the past.

Anna often says “for him”, “I’ll do it for him”. The other girls are envious of Anna’s position, who is "lucky" to have a loving husband regularly visiting her.

No matter how much we love to see independent, strong leading characters, we also know that often enough we fall victims of our emotions, of our need to socialize, of being loved, of being cared for. We are shown the power of love, the power that other people have in our lives, how they influence our decisions, our mental states. How someone abandoned by everyone else can’t find enough strength to fight, can’t find a reason to change their behavior. Which is sad, but also true.

Overall, this was a decent read. The importance of the topic overshadowed the unoriginality of the plot and lack of punctuation marks.

As far as mental health diagnoses go, I believe eating disorders are one of the most frequently misunderstood diseases. Because of these misconceptions, most books centered around eating disorders have a falsity to them. Enter Yara Zgheib's novel: one of the best fictional depictions of what it's actually like to live with an eating disorder. On a personal note, I have been in eating disorder treatment several times, and so I could relate a ton to the novel's setting in a treatment center. Zgheib perfectly captures the many intricacies of treatment, including the terror and anxiety during mealtimes, the bonds formed between fellow patients, and the loneliness that comes when you're trapped in your disorder (even if you're surrounded by a dozen other girls). I found Zgheib's main character completely relatable, and I appreciated the 'patient notes' included throughout the book that demonstrate just how deadly anorexia can be (extremely low weights, risks of organ failure, etc.). I won't soon forget the connection I had with this novel. I wish people would read it so that they can understand the complexity of fighting back against an eating disorder. Food isn't really your enemy - your own brain is.

Man.. I don't even know where to start with this book. It gives a detailed look into someone in a treatment center for eating disorders. When I was younger, I helped my mother's work gather information regarding support for people with eating disorders. While gathering that information, I reflected a lot on the disease, and the pressures that many people are put under in the pursuit of their image of perfection.

This book detailed some of the issues that I didn't even think of, and really painted a picture of the day to day trials of someone with this disease. While it was very grim at times, I kept wanting to read more and more. I found hope in the positive aspects, and compassion in the trying times.

I really enjoyed reading this book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Almost any girl who’s been through high school will be able to identify with some part. The characters are real and thoughtful. It’s a book that will be recommended over and over again.

I so loved The Girls at 17 Swann Street that I've been putting off reviewing it. Why? Because while I've recommended it to a lot of people, I'm afraid my review will in no way convey how heart wrenching and haunting this book is.

I've read other things about anorexia, but none have hit me as this book did. There was just something about the relationship between Anna and her husband and also between the girls in the home that stripped away everything that was extraneous. We were shown the deep, soul crushing beast that is anorexia and how it affects everyone else in your life.

I don't know what else to say except read this book. Be prepared to cry and at times, to cheer, but above all, know you will definitely know you've read what is probably as close to a first hand account as is possible.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for approving my request for an ARC. My thoughts in this review are my own.

Raw, gritty and utterly honest. The depiction of Anna, a young woman suffering with anorexia is exactly that. Zgheib certainly doesn't play it safe here when describing this horrendous disease that the women at 17 Swann Street fight every day to survive. There are moments in this book that will shatter you and others that may provide hope, but overall, truly provides insight into how many moments shatter those who live with this issue and those who love those who live with it. With beautiful language, it's hard to fathom that this is a debut.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I received an ARC of this book from The Girlfriend and I am so happy that I did. This is a heart wrenching story of a young woman's fight against anorexia. I absolutely loved the writing style. The characters were so well developed and I found myself cheering Anna on! This story was a difficult one for me to read as it really gives an inside perspective of the battle, feelings and demons of the main character. I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read more by this author.

First, I want to thank Yara Zgheib, St. Martin Press, and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

Yara Zgheib brings you an extremely powerful read in Girls at 17 Swann Street dealing with a woman battling anorexia. Yara takes through Anna’s emotional, mental, and physical journey as she is diagnosed with and treated for Anorexia. This is a must read for anyone going through this, has a loved one dealing with this, or just want to educate yourself on this topic.

Girls at 17 Swann Street really fascinated me. I am a huge fan of medical fiction/nonfiction books. So, this book was up my alley. I loved how Yara let her readers experience the journey with Anna as she got help for her eating disorder. We were there for all her ups and downs along the way.

I was amazed how much research Yara did on this book. She really digged deep into this topic and brought you amazing facts on nutrition, made out a meal plan with how many calories for each meal you should have, made out a treatment plan that was in chart note form using medical terminology.

Yara brings out all the feelings and emotions that Anna is going through within this journey. Not just the clinical medical side of it. A lot of this is mental too. You can tell that this character is close to Yara’s heart.

On a personal note this book was an eye opener for opener for me. I felt for Anna in this book. I too struggled with weight but mine was obesity. Since 2004 I have lost a total of 193lbs with the tool of Gastric Bypass Surgery, The South Beach Diet, willpower, and motivation, and changing your mindset. It has not been easy and it has been a daily struggle. However, I learned way more about myself and nutrition in the process. This book showed me the other end of the spectrum.

I was hoping I would really enjoy this book, but the narration just caught me off guard and I didn't like it much at all. The premise was great, the story was compelling, but the writing style was lacking for me.

This is a gorgeous, lyrically written debut novel. I have read books about/involving eating disorders before, but most have been focused on teenagers or very young women. Anna Roux is also quite young (26), but decidedly at a different stage in her life than many of the teen/college age characters in other novels I've encountered with anorectic protagonists—she's a successful professional dancer, she's married, and she hopes to have a child in the near future. It's a refreshing change to see this perspective on eating disorders. Yara Zgheib does her characters justice, writing and developing them beautifully.

I liked the writing and the subject was something definitely important in society today I just hard a hard time connecting with the characters. I felt for them yes but I don't know. Maybe it was me and not the book.

Anna Riux is a professional ballet dancer. Battling her emotional demons - imperfection, loneliness, failure, guilt - leads her on a dangerous downward spiral to anorexia and depression. To say that Anna's harrowing journey to reclaim her life affected me would be an understatement. There were moments of inner dialogue that left me with tears streaming down my face. This may be a work of fiction but it was an intimate, heart wrenching and emotional look at battling eating disorders.

I don't know about you but I have definitely had moments where my emotions fuel my eating - feeling so anxious I can not eat or so emotional that I want to eat every sweet in sight. We have all had moments where life feels out of our control. How do you handle it? When Anna felt like nothing was going her way she chose to control what she could - her food intake.

17 Swann Street gave us an insightful look at treatment. It was hard to read about the forced high caloric intake meals, feeding tubes and limited access to bathrooms. I felt for these women who were battling to save their lives. The anxiety over something as seemingly innocuous as sitting in front of a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast was palpable.

I was moved by the love between Anna and her husband Mathias and the support both he and her father desperately provide. With them championing her healing Anna was able to become vulnerable enough to make strides toward recovery. I was touched by the support the women in the rehab house provided to each other. Solidarity, understanding and encouragement are crucial to any recovery.

This is definitely an emotional read. If you opt to pick it up be prepared - you will not put it down unscathed. Your emotions will be all over the place and your heart will be broken but you will come away stronger for having endured 17 Swann Street and sharing the journey of its inhabitants.