The DIETER

Thin, bright and beautiful Barbara Avers has it all, a powerful political husband, great kids, beautiful home -- and a two pack a day cigarette habit.

But, when Barbara decides to honor her best friend's passing by flinging her last carton of beloved cigarettes into Lake Michigan -- she hurtles headlong into the frightening and exotic universe of hips and thighs, weight clinics and fad diets, elastic waistbands and camouflage overblouses.

In this new world, the facade of her life peels away, each layer exposing something new. Her high-power attorney husband begins spending more time with his pretty, thin campaign manager. Her children seem embarrassed by her. Her once solid self-image shifts like quicksand.

When Barbara is offered a job to resurrect her old newspaper career, she catches the eye of a craggy, irreverent crime reporter. And she is befriended by a wise-cracking 300 pound fellow-dieter -- a woman forced to lose weight for health reasons -- whose boyfriend complains she's getting too thin.

Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Barbara emerges much changed, amazed she ever equated body weight with self-worth.

"A delightful novel, intelligent, witty, and very moving."
--Susan Isaacs