The Definition of Beautiful

A Memoir

De: Charlotte Bellows

Narrado por: Charlotte Bellows

Shortlisted for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

A stunning memoir of coming of age and recovering from anorexia in the 2020s.

Charlotte Bellows wrote The Definition of Beautiful between the ages of 15 and 17, in the wake of lockdown and in recovery from anorexia. In the tradition of Sylvia Plath in The Bell Jar and Françoise Sagan in Bonjour Tristesse, Bellows writes with deceptively straightforward urgency, pushing through society's constraints on the bodies and minds of girls and women to offer a story both achingly familiar and devastatingly new.

In 2020, 14-year-old Charlotte's lifelong drive to achieve 'perfection' distorts into an all-encompassing obsession. Living between the suffocating world of lockdown and an uncanny dreamscape inhabited by competing avatars, Charlotte faces a parade of masked faces in hospital rooms, the aftermath of first love, the erosion of lifelong friendship, and the agony of seeing her illness devastate her family as it threatens to destroy her; as the world reopens, she finds new connections and mentors, new joy, new ways of thinking, new ways to be.

Charlotte Bellows offers a potent fusion of insight and innocence—a story for those who suffer or have suffered from eating disorders, but, more, a vital coming of age story of a young gay and artistic woman, tugged and throttled by a myriad of pressures, not least from the dark gravity that is the underside of her own creative drive.

©2023 Charlotte Bellows (P)2024 Audible, Inc.

Honest, beautiful body of work

Thank you for writing this book. Your story brought me a better understanding of the inner workings of a young female with an eating disorder. Your battle described through characters in The Deep helped me gain a healthier perspective on the illness. I listened to your book from the depths of my own heartbreak looking for answers to my 13 yo daughter's ed. Your words and voice broke my heart and brought me comfort and now a part of our journey. I'll never forget you or your story.

Just so beautiful

Truly a gorgeous work. The depth of realms the author takes you into were haunting but so beautiful. This was not what I was expecting for a memoir on such a topic of eating disorders. 10 out of 10!

Puerile

Redundant ,boring and puerile, but maybe a good book for adolescents who are struggling with eating disorders.

Sadly I was disappointed

I wanted to like this but it was hard to follow and the narration made it even harder to concentrate with a rather flat tone. Props to this young lady for writing a book so young but informed the delivery and the fantasy bits lost me and made the story hard to follow