Wintergirls

When Lia is released from New Seasons, a hospital for patients recovering from eating disorders, she moves in with her father, stepmother, and stepsister. Lia’s family trusts that she will eat, follow her doctors’ orders, and try to stay healthy. However, Lia’s eating disorder worsens without her father or stepmother, Jennifer, realizing how badly it has become. Lia has several tricks for lying about her eating habits. For example, Lia leaves dirty plates in the kitchen or makes a mess in the microwave to give the impression that she has eaten food. Every week, Jennifer must weigh Lia to make sure she has not fallen below an unhealthy weight. Lia sews quarters into the pockets of her bathrobe and tampers with the scale so that it will read as a heavier weight, even as Lia herself continues to lose weight. Lia’s parents want to trust that Lia is getting better, but Lia continues to find ways of deceiving them.

Lia also has trouble trusting doctors. While hospitalized, Lia realizes it is easy to tell doctors what they want to hear. Lia thinks, “I knew what he wanted to hear. He couldn’t stand me being sick. Nobody can. They only want to hear that you’re healing, you’re in recovery, taking it one day at a time” (83).