The Mother And Daughter Diaries

The Mother And Daughter Diaries
Clare Shaw

Sixteen-year-old Jo makes lists to manage her world, but somehow she still feels out of control. But she has found one way to cope: watching what she eats or rather, what she doesn't eat. And she's losing weight… but not quickly enough.Lizzie, Jo's mum, doesn't make lists. She's too busy being a single mum, hating her ex-husband's new wife and trying to keep an eye on Jo who seems to have stopped communicating with her altogether.When Jo is diagnosed with anorexia, Lizzie is desperate with worry and their lives spin out of control. Jo needs help and she needs it now.Beneath Jo and Lizzie's fears and frustrations is a funny, warm and insightful story about a mother and her daughter who go on a journey to find themselves - and each other.

CLARE SHAW trained and worked as a speech and language therapist before discovering that she preferred writing to talking. So she became a freelance writer, contributing to parents’ magazines and writing five books offering advice to parents, including Prepare Your Child for School and Help Your Child Be Confident. Clare then produced two daughters so that she could put her own advice into practice. This proved impossible, so she returned to speech therapy and started to talk to people again. But the call of the word processor was loud, and The Mother and Daughter Diaries is the result.

Behind every woman writer is a man bringing her cups of tea, and John boils her kettle at their home in Essex, with help from their two daughters, Emma and Jessica.

Further information can be found at

www.mirabooks.co.uk/clareshaw (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk/clareshaw) or www.clareshaw.com (http://www.clareshaw.com).

The Mother and Daughter Diaries

Clare Shaw

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

To Abigail

Acknowledgements (#ue63749ae-707c-5427-a76a-afc166e6e96a)

My thanks to the families of Essex and Suffolk, who shared their stories of daughters and food with me. Thanks to agent extraordinaire, Judith Murdoch, and to Catherine Burke and everyone at MIRA for their hard work and enthusiasm. Also to Robyn Karney for her precision editing. Special thanks to John, Emma and Jessica for their endless support and encouragement. And to Mike Harwood for kickstarting me into this strange world of fiction.

Table of Contents

Cover (#ua5e33f59-2f45-575b-9913-32c1cc2fb510)

About the Author (#uf73d15c6-55a1-5140-8721-e76fc803e8e5)

Title Page (#u187e94bd-a58d-58f9-9ae8-ce628a4f12ca)

Acknowledgements

Dedication (#u632bd074-bb81-593f-aaba-ffbb6f956c55)

ONE (#udfa6fc43-a925-5323-9460-3b999228a307)

TWO (#ua8d89af0-13ad-52df-bbc7-d757fa9b47b0)

THREE (#u0987e421-529d-5c95-abd7-a68c4892b162)

FOUR (#u10c9f4bd-2f00-5f96-bf3a-6addf3bec91d)

FIVE (#ufe3d0e83-9854-572b-ad38-b2c7e690a33b)

SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

TWENTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Read all about it… (#litres_trial_promo)

MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK

Questions for your reading group (#litres_trial_promo)

Inspiration (#litres_trial_promo)

Sources of help and information (#litres_trial_promo)

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#litres_trial_promo)

Author biography (#litres_trial_promo)