Wintergirls

WINTERGIRLS: Laurie Halse Anderson: Viking: Young Adult: 278 pgs.

Lia’s childhood friend Cassie died alone in a motel after calling Lia thirty-three times—calls Lia did not retrieve until after Cassie’s death. Now Lia’s parents fear that the death will trigger Lia’s anorexia, a well-founded fear as Lia is sabotaging her parents’ attempts to monitor her weight and holding conversations with Cassie that illuminate Lia’s emotional illness.

This is Anderson’s best work since she published her wonderful novel, Speak. Lia’s narrative is a heart-breaking chronicle of anorexia and the physical and emotional destruction it wreaks. Like Speak, the strength of Wintergirls is the accurate portrait and dead-on voice of the troubled teenage protagonist.

MBC