Paperweight

This emotionally haunting and beautifully written young adult debut delves into the devastating impact of trauma and loss, in the vein of Laurie Halse Andersons Wintergirls.Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at meal time, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods shes worked so hard to avoid.Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesnt plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Joshs deaththe death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she, too, will end her life.Paperweight follows seventeen-year-old Stevies journey as she struggles not only with a life-threatening eating disorder, but with the question of whether she can ever find absolution for the mistakes of her pastand whether she truly deserves to.