Summary

At the outset of The Girls at 17 Swann Street, in Chapter 1, Anna moves into Bedroom 5 in a residential eating disorder treatment center. At twenty-six years old, the narrator’s struggle with anorexia nervosa is threatening to kill her. Chapter 2 consists of Anna’s intake forms for the facility. She is hesitant to answer the more personal questions and her responses to those she does answer are slanted through the lens of her eating disorder.

In Chapter 3, Anna and Matthias moved into an apartment in St. Louis. While Anna had happily agreed to follow her husband to the United States, their new apartment felt detached from the bohemian life “she had always loved and led happily” (12). In the midwestern apartment, Anna attempted to occupy herself while Matthias was at work. She moved back and forth between the rooms, opening the refrigerator, pacing, and...