26-year-old Anna is a former Parisian, former ballerina, and former woman with an identity outside of her eating disorder. Somewhere between following her husband to St. Louis and ending up in Bedroom 5 at 17 Swann Street, Anna’s all but disappeared. Her life revolves around food and denial, and not just denying herself food. Both Anna and her husband can only see how the disorder developed since coming to America. What Anna doesn’t want to see is how she’s been trying to erase herself for years.

The story itself is not an original one: dancer develops unhealthy eating habits to get the approval of fellow dancers and a man. Except that’s what Anna only wants to see, and what she only wants to share with her therapist. Through flashbacks, however, both the reader and Anna dig deeper into the root of the trauma that led Anna to this point, which includes wanting to get healthy.

The fellow patients at 17 Swann Street are constantly pointing out to Anna that, unlike so many of them, Anna has a reason to get healthy: her husband. And while it’s easy to dismiss this reason as not the “right” reason (shouldn’t Anna be wanting to get better, to live, for herself?), Zgheib demonstrates how nuanced the recovery process is. For some, like Anna, it’s easy to motivate them to want to get better because they have someone, or something, that they want to get better for.

In others, Zgheib shows the inability for some to function on their own outside of inpatient centers. This is where the title of the book is expertly demonstrated. These women aren’t women: they’re girls who need to remember how to be women, mentally and physically. And still, it is up to each patient to decide what returning to womanhood means (once they’ve achieved and are maintaining a healthy body weight).

The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a book that sneaks up on you with its depth. I was incredibly moved, not just by Anna’s story, but by the relationship between Anna and her husband. Anna is doing the hard work: she’s working on undoing years of thinking and acting one way about food. Yet, she’s still cognizant of how hard this (the separation, having had to watch his wife starve, the conflict of not understanding why he wasn’t enough to help her get better) is on her husband. And he does the most important thing anyone can do for someone in recovery or healing from anything: show up.

A surprisingly emotional read, The Girls on 17 Swann Street is a rare look into the relationship dynamics between patients and their partners and just how important they can be in the recovery process.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I gave this book 5 stars. The story is about a young woman named Anna. Anna suffers from anorexia. 17 Swann Street is the rehab home for girls with eating disorders. We meet Emm, Julia, Sarah, and others. The author does a wonderful job of helping us understand some of the struggles going on within the minds of these girls. I couldn’t stop thinking about Anna and her husband and wishing her the courage to keep fighting her demons. I highly recommend this book!

Did you ever wonder what it feels like to have someone you love and care about have an eating condition? Well this book is the one to read. Often times families go through the same experience as the person affected by the disorder. This book is a must read. Thank you netgalley for an ARC copy of this book.

‘My name is Anna, and I have a life and people who love me waiting outside 17 Swann Street.’

We meet Anna Roux, as she enters 17 Swann Street, a residential eating disorder clinic. Anna is trying to reclaim her life from anorexia.

‘Occupation: 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.’

Anna had been a professional dancer, but when she followed her husband Matthias from Paris to Missouri, she found herself with plenty of time to dwell on her fears of failure and imperfection. Depressed and anorectic, Anna’s weight falls to eighty-eight pounds before she is forced to seek treatment. At 17 Swann Street, Anna is one of several women dealing with the life-threatening eating disorders of anorexia or bulimia. Treatment at 17 Swann Street is highly regimented: the women need are supervised as they eat the six meals they are required to eat each day.

‘The course of treatment for anorexia is painful but not impossible. If you really want to recover, you will.’

Anna’s story moves between past and present, with clinical notes and treatment plans related to her treatment. Through the views of the past, we come to see how Anna fell prey to anorexia. With Anna in the present, we see just how difficult life with eating disorders can be.

I found this a confronting read. The women need to stay at 17 Swann Street until they have a healthy BMI and have healthy eating habits. Some won’t make it: death will claim some, attempted suicide or being too fragile for residential treatment will see others moved into hospital. The women support each other. Each woman wants success for the others even if she is unable to claim success for herself.

And Anna? Anna may be more fortunate than some in that her husband Matthias cares deeply for her. But the battle for recovery is an internal one in which flawed perceptions need to be addressed. While aspects of the journey are common to all who fight eating disorders, each battle is an individual one. This novel is from Anna’s perspective, but we also get a sense of how her anorexia has impacted on her husband, father and sister.

Anyone can develop an eating disorder. It’s a cruel disease and difficult to manage. This beautifully written novel provides some insight as well as hope.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Zgheib’s debut novel is about a woman struggling in a battle against anorexia. Anna, a 26-year-old, checks into a treatment facility at the behest of her husband, who cannot continue to pretend she isn't starving.
Anna, was once a ballet dancer in Paris, where she and Matthias fell in love until she got injured and stopped dancing, Matthias got a job in St. Louis, and she followed, It is in Bedroom 5 at 17 Swann St., amongst a crew of other women, also in varying states of distress. At times fight treatment but eventually she comes around and is able to surrender to it.
I found this book to be touching and satisfying in all the right ways!

I received and advanced reader's copy for my honest review.

This book was absolutely phenomenal. I have never read a book about someone with an eating disorder, but I feel like this was a pretty good one to start with. We follow our main character Anna, through the very beginning of her anorexia through her treatment at 17 Swann Street. Her story was absolutely beautiful, and I have only love for her, the other girls, and Matthias. They all felt so real to me, and I felt like I could really understand Anna and her struggle with anorexia. I don't personally have such an extreme eating disorder, but I could still feel each and every one of her emotions as if they were my own. The story was so touching and heartbreaking all at the same time, and it did not gloss over or glorify any of the gritty details. While I cannot say that the representation of anorexia and bulimia are 100% percent accurate, I would like to think that this is a very good look into the lives of women trying to get treatment for these conditions. The story was just so beautiful, I was almost in tears multiple times. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street was a book unlike anything I've read in the last few years. It dove deep into emotions and felt like you were an actual fly on the wall of their experiences.

In my youth I was very intrigued by eating disorders and the havoc it wreaks on so many lives. I was semi-obsessed with Karen Carpenter and her story and still get emotional talking/reading/watching things about her. Anna and all the girls who are at 17 Swann Street will pull at your heartstrings with their stories and struggles. The time invested reading this book will be worth it, and you will feel you understand those struggling with anorexia nervosa so much more than beore you started.

**Many thanks to Net Galley & St Martin's Press for a copy to read and honestly review!**

This is a very sad book, but it does provide a clear picture of what someone with an eating disorder would be feeling. I found this to be heartbreaking that we live in a world where people feel the need to control their world through food intake. The storyline conveys the feelings and thoughts of someone going through these feelings very clearly. My heat broke for these women and I hope this book is able to help others.

This is a very real account of how anorexics think and their thought processes. Growing up with a sister who was anorexic and bulimic I can attest how accurate and crushing this book felt while reading it. Kudos to Yara Zgheib for her debut novel, a must read.

The book revolves around food and the struggle to eat or not to eat. Anna narrates the story of her life through flashbacks......her years as a dancer in France, meeting her husband and moving to the US, the slow removal of food from her life. Through her eyes we learn of her struggles in a residential treatment facility and those of her housemates, other women who struggle with food. There is kindness to each other, celebration of small successes (eating an entire bagel with cream cheese), and fear seeing the struggle of another.

This is not a book I would usually read, but Anna's story drew me in and I rallied for her to defeat the challenge of eating and fight for a life with her husband. I do recommend this book!

The digital book was provided to me from NetGalley free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

This was a heartbreaking debut novel that I know will stick me last past the last page. The book is beautifully written despite dealing with ugly realities that were hard to take in. The story does a great job of showing the real struggle with anorexia and anxiety that many woman face. Despite the tough subject matter the author managed to convey everything realistically (as far as I can tell) and yet with empathy and compassion. There are so many emotion connected with this book and so many lessons to take from it, regardless of whether you have suffered from an eating disorder or not. Overall I give the book 4 stars and highly recommend giving it a try!

As an educator I always have students searching for books about eating disorders. This one intrigued me from the description and the title and led me to requesting a copy from NetGalley. This story is a tale of Anna, a 26 year old who has anorexia. The story moves between present day and her past experiences which led to her entering the residential facility to receive help for her disease.

What I Loved: I have read several books before about eating disorders, and this one does not distort the truth - the struggles, the reality that those who refuse to get better will die, and the anguish that this disease has on family and friends. I loved the relationship that Anna has with her husband and how he doesn't give up on her, even when he sees her struggling. I loved Anna's relationships with the other girls in the house. As she learns to love herself again, she also encourages the other girls to love themselves as well.

What I Wish There Was More Of: I wish there was more depth to the story. It didn't seem realistic that Anna was able to get better so quickly and maybe had there been more depth to the other characters I would have felt it to be realistic.

Overall - I am excited to pass along this title to students. They will connect and root for her too!

From the start, Anna's story pulled me in and I found myself unable to put the book down for more than a few moments. Yara Zgheib wove a compassionate and compelling tale that is absolutely worth the read!

I love it when I pick up a book and feel like I just can’t stop reading it. This is the story of Anna who is admitted to an inpatient facility for anorexia. She shares her own journey and struggles with anorexia. It gave me a deeper understanding of this disease and the thought processes on what causes someone to starve themselves. But, also on how it affected her relationships with her husband and family. I particularly enjoyed the glimpses of the relationships she made with the girls at 17 Swann Street. I thought this book would be sad and depressing and put off reading it for awhile. It was not. I should have read it when I first obtained a copy. Thank you Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. It’s one of the best books I have read lately.

This was a very good book. I love the story and it was very engaging. It tells the true story about girls all around the world and their everyday battles. It was touching and moving. I could really resonate with the story because I had a short battle with cutting and bulimia. I learned to love myself. I know for some it’s not that easy and it requires a ton of help. My heart goes out to them and their families.

4.0 - upsetting, yet riveting. I felt like I got a better understanding of the struggle with an eating disorder through Anna’s perspective; however, I felt like the Philippe storyline partially muddied the waters?

I just finished the ARC of this book and I feel like it will be some time before the girls of 17 swann street leave my heart and mind.

This book follows the story of Anna who is a diagnosed anorexic that has, at the beginning of the story, been admitted to treatment for the first time. She is someone who found anorexia as a way to control a life that had begun to feel out of control to her but those that love her have now intervened. Following her journey both as anorexic Anna and the "old" Anna was poignant and heartbreaking and there were times I could feel my own heart racing as she struggled with her disease. Yara Zgeib made me feel the anxiety and horror that comes with anorexia in a way I did not to expect to.

The author also took great care with portraying Anna's character as well as the characters of the others in this book as human and not just tired, old stereotypes. My heart broke when theirs did and I literally wanted to give each girl at this house a hug because it made me look at the pain of anorexia in a way I never have before. As someone who struggled with their weight on the other side of the spectrum, I never thought much about what anorexia could be like but through this book I can see more similarities than I would have ever thought.

This is not what I would call a plot heavy book, it is more a characters journey and development over time but it's still a fast read. The writing is gorgeous and I highlighted my fair share of this ARC. It was also a read I was looking forward to picking up every chance I got which is not a feeling I always have when I finish up a long work day. I cannot wait to add a hard copy of it to my shelf and look forward to reading whatever Yara Zgeib publishes next!


Who might like this book:
This story could be potentially triggering for anyone who is struggling with an eating disorder. However it could be a great read for someone who has a loved one struggling with this illness or someone who just wants to gain more understanding on the mental state behind anorexia. I don't think it is possible to read this book and not gain empathy towards those with eating disorders or the people who are attempting to help them heal.

This book was a really tough read for me. I struggle just like Anna. The only difference is that I am more in control. I've never gotten to the point that she has and by reading this book I really hope that never happens.

Anna and her husband have reached the point of no return where her health is concerned. The only option now is an inpatient type program. A program that will require Anna and her love to be apart for longer than they have been in a while.

While Anna reflects on how she's gotten to where she is, she also has to cope with the various ways she's going to have to utilize in order to make herself better. The road ahead is a tough one, one that she is going to need help if she's ever going to make it to the end.

A heart-wrenching look at the tole an eating disorder takes not only on the person, but on the family as well.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Anna, a French transplant to Missouri is anorexic. A former ballerina, now grocery store employee, her life centers on staying thin, all she allows herself are apples and popcorn. Now, after passing out in her bathroom, she is checked into an inpatient treatment facility. This is the story of Anna's journey in treatment as well as how she ended up like this.

What I Loved: This book is a punch in the gut. It is very well written. It really puts you in the brain of Anna and her disease. The author explains anorexia in a disturbingly clear way, you feel for Anna and all the girls suffering. The descriptions of dealing with an eating disorder are realistic and haunting. The other thing I loved was the girl friendships, all the girls kind of take care of each other and watch out for one another. It is wonderful to see the power of female friendship even when the females are struggling.

What I didn’t like so much: At times I felt the flashbacks were a bit random and didn't help the story progress, I also didn't really understand when the author would change between third and first person, though I believe that is supposed to be before and after anorexia, but its a bit jarring when your reading it.

Who Should Read It: People who want to know more about eating disorders. People who want to understand the mindset of someone with an eating disorder. People who love female friendship stories even amongst depressing settings.

General Summary: A story of a young woman in treatment for anorexia along with other girls in treatment and their daily struggles with anorexia and other eating disorders.

This review is based on an excerpt of the first eight chapters**
I have heard many good things about this book from other reviewers. Going on, I knew the basic principle of the story was anorexia. I did not, however, expect it to be so relatable to my own life experiences. I have not been anorexic, but I have been changed by a disorder, and I really did not notice the changes until they became obvious. Anna talks about how she slowly stopped going out, stopped putting makeup on, stopped answering the phone. Yeah, that is me, too. Anna has been slowly slipping away from her life. Once she realizes it, the damage is done. Now, serious treatment is necessary. I feel so bad for Anna. I understand how it happened to her. It just did. She had no control over it. Everything became so difficult, so she just stopped doing things. In her case, this also includes eating. I hope she recovers.