Giselle is 22, a top medical student and a functioning anorexic. Except now, driven by the pressures of school and her late father’s rejection, Giselle is no longer functioning. Her sister Holly, a 14-year-old track star, can see that Giselle is going to have to confront a few things if she wants to get better. It seems easier for the athletic Holly-she sweats through life’s problems—but now even she feels burdened by the past.

Ibi Kaslik’s vivid novel captures with devastating honesty the story of two sisters struggling to come to terms with their adult selves. Edgy and powerful, Skinny is a sometimes gritty and often wryly funny look at growing up and the hunger for acceptance that drives us all.

Ibi Kaslik is an internationally published novelist, freelance writer, and teacher. Her most recent novel, The Angel Riots, is a rock n’ roll comic-tragedy and was nominated for Ontario’s Trillium award in 2009. Her first novel, Skinny, was a New York Times Bestseller and has been published in numerous countries. A native of Toronto, Ibi teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies and works as an art educator for youth.

Christopher Doda is an award-winning critic, editor, and poet. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Among Ruins (2001) and Aesthetics Lesson (2007). His poems and reviews have appeared in journals and magazines across Canada and he was an editor at Exile: The Literary Quarterly for five years. He is currently the review editor for the online journal Studio.

Ibi Kaslik's profile page