Between the ages of 17 and 31, Rachael Oakes-Ash lost 63kg and gained 76kg on a roller-coaster of body image problems and food obsession. She went through anorexia, bulimia, bulimarexia, gym mania, strict dieting and binge eating before she finally figured out how to stop torturing herself and hating her body. Good Girls Do Swallow is the very black and very funny story of her downfall and her recovery.

Rachael might have taken things further than many of us, but this is a story every woman can relate to. You might not have rescued food from the rubbish bin in a moment of binge-madness but if you've ever felt lousy and reached for a chocolate biscuit for comfort, this book is for you.

'What the diets promised, I got,' writes Rachael. 'I got the body that can wear the clothes. I got the job I love, I got the man I want. But I only got it for keeps when I stopped dieting.' From the Carol Brady Syndrome and Thindarella to Mutiny in Aisle Six, Good Girls Do Swallow tells how she did it.

Good Girls Do Swallow is published in Australia and New Zealand (Random House) in 2000, the United Kingdom (Mainstream Publishing) in 2001 and in Germany under the title Brave Madchen Essen Auf also in 2001. The book has also been made into a documentary with The LifeStyle Channel.

"Brave, funny and comfortingly honest...every woman will identify"
Marian Keyes

Many - too many - women will recognise themselves in Rachel's descriptions of her years of tortured eating. This a report from the front, of a war we must stop, if women are to live in peace in their bodies. "
Susie Orbach

"When I first started reading Good Girls Do Swallow I felt as though I had found someone's personal diary. Rachael certainly didn't hold back with this book, she made me laugh with her brutal honesty. Any woman who has ever been on a diet will relate to this book."
Jackie O

"A searingly honest and important book. In "Good Girls Do Swallow" many a true word is spoken ingest."
Kathy Lette

"We need more books like this one ... a brave , honest and funny account of how isolating, unhealthy and downright unattractive it is to be bulimic."
Amanda Keller