Shavin graduated from college with a BA in psychology, which was a difficult time in her life that included expulsion, transfers and a four-month institutionalization for depression and anorexia. By the time this was over, she had convinced herself she was cured and went on to work as a counselor in a halfway house for drug and alcohol addicts. Shavin discovered the interpersonal turmoil and character traits of someone living with an eating disorder don’t miraculously disappear once medication and therapy have taken effect.

Where do dangerous obsessions go once a person is recovering? For Shavin, the six years following her purported recovery from anorexia were filled with decisions that disguised themselves as solutions. In this gripping, funny and optimistic memoir, Shavin writes about what happens beyond recovery — how to rejoin the world and pursue a life that is worth living.