description: It's 1984. Alice Forrester is a twenty-five-year-old anorexic who has just experienced heart failure when she is taken to the emergency room of Seaview Hospital, renowned for its eating disorders clinic. There, family and friends in league with staff and doctors intently try to steer her toward recovery. But it's not that simple. She passes time at the clinic waiting to find out what is wrong with her. What happened. When and how the damage was done.Along the way, Alice encounters a fascinating array of oddballs and misfits - Dr. Paul, the physician who clinically evaluates and monitors this disparate group of afflicted young women; various members of the psychiatric support staff whose treatment of anorexia revolves around a chillingly familiar twelve-step program; wraithlike, flaxen-haired Gwen, whose anorexia ultimately turns into tragedy; and finally Maeve, raucous, vulgar, tender, and kind, who shakes up Alice's life and opens her eyes.
language: English
title: The Passion of Alice
titlecomplete: The Passion of Alice
genres: Mental Health, Queer, Psychology, Mental Illness, Adult Fiction, Young Adult, Lesbian, Gay, Fiction, LGBT
ratings_count: 589
awards: awardedAt: 820483200000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Longlist, awardedAt: 788947200000
name: Lambda Literary Award
category: Lesbian Fiction
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt