This was a sad read and especially for anyone who is anorexic themselves or has a friend who is, not an easy read. It did not make it easier to understand the condition, and I really could not find that it makes it easier even for an outsider to think what one can do to help.

A dancer who is anorexic must be a dangerous condition. She thinks she could do better, dance lighter, get more roles, be more successful if she just avoids the cheese or goes one more mile as that is the obstacle holding her back. Reading it makes one realize the futility of this obsession and obsession it is.

No 17 Swann Street is set up to help girls like her but can it help permanently. Slipping back into the chasm is so easy, so very easy and for every girl they help, plenty more slip back.

A debut novel very emotional.

I'm sorry to say I couldn't get into this book, I tried more the once. I don't think it's my kind of book.

This is a beautifully written novel about a young woman in a residential treatment program for anorexia. The author captures the despair that this disease brings to both the patients and their loved ones. I did feel that here were moments that had a bit of a Hallmark movie feel to them, but I am a sucker for those. Others however might find the main character's husband a tad too good to be realistic. I would prefer to think that there really are great people in the world. It is a book I will be recommending to my customers.

I liked the book overall but found it difficult to want to support the main character in her struggle with anorexia. The story jumped around so much it failed to build a connection with the character and want to really root for her. SPOILER, when she undergoes her major relapse in her attitude toward her treatment, I just really lost interest in her journey and found her tough to believe how quickly she came back. This was ok but jumped around a lot and the wrapped up too quickly.

The Girls at 17 Swann Stree is wittten by Yara Aghelb . an ARC copy was sent to me for an honest review .
This is a well written book.
It that takes you in to the mind and thoughts of an anorexic young lady named Anna who was dropped off by her loving but worried husband at the end of his rope ,to a recovery home at 17 Swann Street.
At first I didn't think I would like it but I have to admit it got my attention .
The charters in the book are well developed and very complexed. You try to understand and feel for all the characters who are affected by this illness.
I am glad I read this and I do recommend for others read it.

It's really hard to write a review for books like this one. 

Disordered eating is an emotionally charged subject, and the story is made even more heartbreaking when it is told from the point of view of the patient herself.

The prose is fantastic. The writing is intelligent and well constructed, and I empathized with Anna deeply, despite not being close to anyone with an eating disorder or having dealt with one myself. 

There is not a whole lot of character development aside from Anna's, but I think that is by design. Those who suffer from eating disorders often isolate themselves, and Anna doesn't really learn much about the other girls at 17 Swann Street, so neither do we. 

This is an important novel. I hope you will read it and share it with the women in your lives. Just having gained some insight into the nightmare that eating disorders is may equip someone to make a difference in the life of a person with this disease.

I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Expected date of publication is February 5, 2019.

I am glad to have been given the opportunity to read and review this book. It is well written and reads quickly. The story itself is heartbreaking yet hopeful at the same time. I found myself pulling for Anna and Matthias, and hoping that they will end up making it. My one wish is that the author had explored a little more about Anna's initial descent into her disease, although I understand why she didn't really. I am glad that I read this book, thanks to Jordan Hanley at St. Martin's Press for the opportunity.

Trigger warning: anorexia and it's effects are explored and explained in detail here.

Wow. A heartbreaking, and I suspect very realistic, look at anorexia through the lives of some of the residents of 17 Swann Street. The book goes into great detail of the how, why and what now of battling this disease. Anna seems to have it all - a loving husband and a seemingly happy marriage. But the demons of the past have taken their toll, and Anna is in a battle for her life.

This is the story of Anna, a young Parisian newlywed, who develops anorexia nervosa after her career as a ballerina fails to materialize. Upon moving to the United States after her husband gets a job offer i St. Louis, Anna's condition worsens. On a Christmas visit to Paris, her father and sister are horrified to see her only weighing 88 lbs. After returning to St. Louis Anna moves to a residential treatment facility for patients with eating disorders, 17 Swann Street.
The story focuses on Anna's stay there and her meetings with psychologists and nutritionists and her close relationships to the other girls.
I enjoyed the story but felt that had Anna told her counselor the turmoil she experienced with the deaths of family members, her treatment could have been different. This book is of particular interest to anyone with an eating disorder or confusion and anxiety about eating and dieting or anyone struggling with body dysmorphia conditions.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am surprised that growing up, none of my friends or classmates had eating disorders (that i knew about), healthy eating attitudes is certainly something that I am very aware of with two daughters even though they are still so young.

This book was gripping and eye opening, i couldn't put it down and it taught me so much about the psychology of eating disorders. I have given it 4 stars instead of 5 as i wish there was a deeper exploration of who Direct Care is- those with eating disorders are humanised, as are their loved one, but not the professionals in any meaningful way.

Also the ARC appeared to need editing - some of the paragraphs flowed together where there were italics.

Going into this book I thought it was going to be super emotional. It was emotional but not like how I was expecting. I related too much to Anna having had dealt with a eating situation when I was younger. It bought back some memories I didn't want to think about.

Excerpt. See full review at link provided below.

This is a novel about the experience of a young married French woman living in America who suffers from anxiety and depression and who develops anorexia at the age of 25. She is committed to an in-patient rehab facility with other women with eating disorders, primarily anorexia.

Now, I must confess that novels ‘about’ conditions both physical and mental are books I turn away from because I don’t believe there is enough to the subject that is compelling in terms of revealing insights into the human condition. I want to make a distinction, even though it is a misty one, between books about conditions vs. books about people who may have physical or mental disorders but also have lives that do speak to our common humanity. A number of diverting and empathetic novels about people with autistic spectrum disorder are currently available.

Secondly, I should reveal that I have an antipathy to characters who cry in nearly every scene. Yes, anorexia is really a physical manifestation of a profoundly sad and anxious soul, and one should expect emotions to be close to the surface. Perhaps the constant production of tears one sees on nearly every page of this novel is one of the reasons anorexia -- as dealt with in this format -- is a poor subject for fiction.

Thirdly, I recoil in distaste from commercial “Hollywood” endings in ‘serious,’ or literary works. Even more when they end a book devoted to a human tragedy. Readers who do not look for deep insight into character, earned endings revealed in original ways, or the intellectually provoking ambiguity of resolutions not distilled to their absolute endpoint will not be disappointed by how this book ends.

Unfortunately all three of my prejudices are served in this novel. In its favor, however is the writing style of short chapters executed as scenes. It was cinematic and vividly done and made the book easy to read because of the effective device producing the sensation of fast pacing in the reader's mind.

That said, it was not really a novel in the sense of my first complaint. Supposedly, the heroine is French, but that seemed a throwaway since nothing about her lived on the page to distinguish that fact in her from the American girls who she lived among.

If I had to put my finger on the main reason the book, as presented, is not a success, it is that it was written as fiction when it feels like it is really autobiography without the baring of the soul, which makes poignant personal histories compelling.

Regretfully, I can not recommend this book as a work of literary fiction.

This was my first DNF in a long time. As someone who has struggled with an ED in the past, and as a healthcare professional who treats eating disorders, I found this book to be incredibly unrealistic in its portrayal of eating disorders, particularly how they are treated. I'm not sure if the author has a personal history of an eating disorder, but it just seems written very poorly to me.

Poignant story of a facility for young women with eating disorders. The patients struggled to the point where they and their families could not help them before entering this facility, where they underwent a lot of structure, supervision and therapy. Some succeeded and left to return home. Others needed to stay longer. Still others failed. It was interesting how the author described the three stages that each patient had to attain before being considered successful. I would recommend this book.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is an eye-opening book about the struggles of anorexia. How it is an internal battle and how it affects the friends and families of those suffering. Yara Zgheib writes the story of Anna and Matthias in a way that you become attached to them and want them to have their happily ever after. For someone who is not extremely familiar with the disease, this book lends an insight to the inner turmoil that goes on and you come away with a bit more empathy.

Very interesting incite into eating disorders. Showing mind set about handling and overcoming this problem.

This books tells the story of Anna Roux whom we meet as she begins treatment for anorexia. She is 26 years old, married and, at the time treatment begins, a mere 88 pounds. We follow her journey in both present time and through her life before anorexia. It was difficult to imagine how someone went from leading an ordinary life to becoming anorexic. What triggers this change? How can one look in the mirror at 88 pounds and see themselves as fat? Sometimes even those closet to you, in this case her husband, don’t always see what’s happening until a third party opens their eyes. And the health risks associated with this disease....... This book was a great read and I highly recommend it.

I thought this book was so very insightful. Having a friend who battled this condition, made it relatable. The author truly got into Anna’s mind and told her story with detail. I could picture these girls who resided there.

This follows Anna who is struggling with anorexia but there are other struggles in this book as well such as self harm, depression, etc. So that is why the book is promoted to readers who have struggles not just those who have experienced an eating disorder either with themselves or their loved ones. I personally can not relate but I did appreciate the way this book showed/described this.
It attempted to explain how the loved ones who are struggling feel. It’s honest work the anger and harshness. It does not shy from the dangers to your health. It broke down calories and how anorexia can effect your body in ways I had zero idea. I learned a lot about anorexia when it comes to the medical part as well as the emotional struggle. It was hard reading Anna struggle with food and eating. The internal fight of not wanting food but likening it. The internal fight of her not being able to admit out loud that she likes cream cheese but is also so disgusted by it.

My biggest issue with the story is only that I feel like the ending wrapped up to fast. It does express that this is not something that is fixed for ever. It is something that you have to decide to get better every day. But I still feel like it tried to wrap up too quickly. We spend so many pages watching her change into eating less and less to suddenly she will try to be better. I like the way she came to the choice but I feel like it just flew by and even though it still showed it being hard it just seemed easy compared to the rest.
I would still read more from this author though.

Tl;dr: A thoughtful look at anorexia, written with grace and hope.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street tackles eating disorders, specifically anorexia, through the pov of Anna, a 26 year old from France who develops anorexia after she and her husband, Matthias, move to Kansas. (Although it's clear from bits of Anna's past that are revealed throughout that she had earlier indications of being headed for an eating disorder)

The novel opens with Anna moving into 17 Swann Street for treatment as her weight has become so low her body is in imminent danger of shutting down. Anna is resigned and resistant to the idea of treatment, and horrified by the amount of food she is expected to eat.

One of the things I especially liked about The Girls at 17 Swann Street is how well it describes the mindset of someone with anorexia. I've lost two family members to it, and it *is* a disease. People with anorexia view food intake not as something that can be controlled, although it does seem to start that way, but it's really about fear. Anorexics, and Ms. Zgheib, excels at showing this, stop eating for any number of complex psychological reasons, but by the time they become so sick as to need help, their ability to think of food, view food, and consume food is trapped in a cycle of fear and anger and often, self loathing. Anorexia can't be cured by simply eating because for anorexics, distorted self image and utter, overwhelming terror of food itself makes what some view as fixable actually very difficult to treat.

Anna does go through a lot of these symptoms and although some may wish that Anna's past was explored more, her past has been consumed by anorexia just as she has. Her memories are almost all centered around food, even the happy ones, and there are several heartbreaking moments where Anna tries to drawn on these memories to remember the taste of certain foods, only to realize she can't. That's how pervasive and destructive anorexia is--an anorexic needs to eat, but will struggle, even in recovery, to remember those tastes again. To have those tastes again.

There are several other residents of 17 Swann Street, but the one who stuck with me hardest besides Anna is Emm, who acts as the home's resident mother hen and whose gradually revealed story is just devastating.

Although Anna does get to a better place by the end of The Girls at 17 Swann Street, she is honest about how fighting anorexia will be a forever battle and, through materials she's read during her stay, informs herself and the reader of the high rate of relapse.

I thought The Girls at 17 Swann Street was very deft, tone-wise. It has hope, but sorrow too. Joy, but sadness. It ends in a way that feels positive without ignoring reality. And the writing is just lovely! Anna is easy to like, as are all the women she meets, and I'm grateful to Ms. Zgheib for providing a thoughtful look into an easily sensationalized disease.

Highly recommended for anyone dealing with a family member who has an eating disorder, and for those looking for a contemporary title that's not afraid to tackle an tough issue, but does so with compassion. Many thanks to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for a review copy.