Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison is the author and central protagonist of the book. She is in her twenties for the majority of the book. She is a writer who after attending Harvard University moves to Iowa City to pursue her MFA in Fiction at the prestigious Writers’ Workshop. In addition to alcoholism, Jamison also copes with anorexia nervosa and cutting. Jamison is a brilliant, highly intelligent woman with a fierce grasp of the English language. She writes her first novel at age twenty-seven. At the same time, she is crippled with self-doubt and inner demons. She has a strong need to be desired by men. Jamison’s main relationship is with Dave, another writer she meets in New Haven and lives with for three years, until their breakup at the end of the book.

Jamison writes with a compelling combination of warmth, humility, and humor. One of her...