Wintergirls
*“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another. I am that girl. I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.* Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.
Themes & atmosphere
Also by Laurie Halse Anderson
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What you might want to know about Wintergirls
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Eighteen-year-old Lia Overbrook is a New Hampshire high school senior who has been in and out of New Seasons treatment for severe anorexia.
Yes. Laurie Halse Anderson's novel is an unflinching portrait of restrictive eating disorder and is widely used in eating disorder treatment programs.
It can be. The book includes calorie counts and very specific disordered behaviors, and many therapists recommend reading it only after stabilization.
Wintergirls was written by Laurie Halse Anderson, published in 2009 by Speak.
Wintergirls is 278 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Wintergirls takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
Wintergirls is a standalone novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, not part of a series.
Wintergirls is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.