Bite Sized: A mother's journey alongside anorexia

Bite Sized is a mother's story of striving to nourish her child. It is about a monster that lurks close by all of us in the modern world - the monster of 'too much' and 'not enough'. It is about a ravenous illness and threads, between parents and children, that connect, entangle, unravel and stretch. Above all, it is about taking on the monsters and trusting in the importance of love.

Table of Contents:
1. Author's Note. 2. Foreword. Philip Gross. 3. Poems.

About the Author :
Fiona Hamilton is a therapeutic writing practitioner, author and mother of three. Her published poetry includes 'Skinandi' and 'Poems for People'. BBC Radio has broadcast some of her short fiction and poems and she has written scripts for theatre and community projects, including 'Mountains' and 'Travelling in Time'. She teaches with Metanoia Institute and Orchard Foundation, and lives in Bristol.

Review :
Compact, compelling and courageous, Bite Sized is a brave and honest account of a mother's experience of her daughter's anorexia. It should be recommended reading for all health care professionals. To speak with clarity and sensitivity, in a language so free of the too-available response of guilt or blame, is in itself a kind of care. A powerful insight into the impact that an eating disorder can have on the whole family. Bite Sized speaks to me directly, as I imagine it will to any parent who has witnessed the horror of anorexia. A book to be shared with anyone who knows what it is to care. Bite Sized is a brave and searing account from a mother navigating her daughter's anorexia... honest and moving, not shying away from how painful it is, Bite Sized nonetheless offers hope and a side of the story that needs to be heard. A generous gift for healthcare professionals, carers, and all who live with challenges of mental and physical conditions - or simply with the ups and downs of being human. Bite Sized is by turns deeply personal, disturbing and ultimately uplifting ... Fiona Hamilton has captured the very essence of a parent's experience of having a child with an eating disorder and distilled it into an extraordinarily powerful account. She has taken her hard won insights and through them illustrated the impact on a family when a loved one develops this most challenging of conditions: anorexia nervosa. It's a short book. Most of the pages have only a few lines on them, a few thoughts, with little punctuation. However, the language, though sparse, is beautifully and carefully written in a mix of poetry and prose. I personally feel that a journey through the experience of something so difficult to talk about should not be over-complicated by too much unnecessary detail, and for this writing style, it is the space between the sentences that is important and provokes reflection. As a student, one of the most important messages is that knowing how to 'fix' or treat someone is not always possible, and that being honest with the family is crucial in maintaining a long-term therapeutic relationship.