Yara Zgheib – The Girls at 17 Swann Street
In the acknowledgments of The Girls at 17 Swann Street: a novel, Yara Zgheib says, “Thank you… for not letting me quit.” She says it six times in lines naming eleven people. Yara Zgheib is as poetic in her gratitude as she is in her book – the fictional story of Anna Roux who has anorexia nervosa.
Yara Zgheib is well acquainted with anorexia. In a speech to the Middle East Eating Disorders Association (MEEDA), Yara tells the audience that she once lived in a place like 17 Swann Street, a recovery house for women suffering from the disease. “Yes, an eating disorder is a disease,” Yara says. “It’s not a bad habit or a lack or excess of self-control. It is not about being thin. No person chooses to have it, just like no person chooses cancer or diabetes.” *
Anna Roux is a dancer. When an injury demands she give up her profession, she’s able to leave France for the U.S. to be with her husband Matthias, employed in St. Louis, Missouri. Loneliness, a common emotion of a trailing spouse, enters her life as Matthias works more and later hours. There is so much time to reflect on her childhood and entrance into adulthood. As Anna sinks deeper, anorexia grips her mind and body. Matthias, who adores her, struggles with what he sees happening – for a dangerous amount of time – and remains in a state of denial until he can no longer do so. It is then that Anna goes to live at 17 Swann Street – a pink house, in Bedroom 5.
Anna unpacks, hangs a few clothes, finds a shelf for her linen and makeup, and arranges her family photos. She reminisces but then looks at herself. “I am twenty-six years old,” she laments. “My body feels sixty-two. So does my brain. Both are tired, irritable, and in pain.”
During her stay, Anna gets to know women who get better and those who don’t. Every weekend, she sees her own clinical evaluation chart, the written stats of a body that entered weighing only 88 pounds. Matthias has his battle going, too. He feels guilty for not intervening sooner.
Readers of The Girls of 17 Swann Street have expressed admiration in their comments and reviews for the depth of anorexia nervosa realism that Yara Zgheib portrays in her book. Anna’s plight permeated their emotions and they cheered her on, willing her to eat, all the while knowing it was an enormous mental struggle. They also admired Yara’s dedication to Anna’s husband and loved ones, how anorexia impacted their lives. One reader says she couldn’t put the book down; another couldn’t stop crying. They are glad that Yara Zgheib did not quit.
Visit Yara Zgheib’s website to read more about the person behind The Girls of 17 Swann Street. You will enter a space of beauty in photos and words. Here is a portion of how Yara describes herself on her website’s About Page:
I am a reader, writer, traveler, yogi, lover of art, wine, black and white photographs, popcorn, and jazz. I was born in Lebanon, have pieces of my heart scattered over Paris, Beirut, London, Boston, and a few villages in Tuscany. I have been a ballerina, an etiquette instructor, a professor of art history, and in some far corner of the past, a political analyst. I have found soulmates in places as far and near as China, Costa Rica, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Japan, Sri Lanka, Morocco, and Australia.
I believe in the power of ideas. I try to live life, and write it, as art.
Yara, Thank you for the flowers! They exist on a postcard*; however, they are just as beautiful and meaningful, and so is your note. The Arts prevail!
It is an enjoyable addition to my postcard collection, and I’m happy to have you and The Girls of 17 Swan Street on Postcards & Authors.
Readers: Yara Zgheib loves snail mail letters and postcards. We have that in common. Imagine that! Visit her contact page to let her know you’d like to send her a note, and she’ll tell you where to send it.
~Anita~