Sisters in Sanity (16 page)

Authors: Gayle Forman

BOOK: Sisters in Sanity

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Author’s Note

Sisters in Sanity
is a work of fiction. When I worked at
Seventeen
magazine, I wrote a story about behavior modification boot camps—places that were not quite as harsh as the fictionalized Red Rock Academy Brit attends, but that did share a lot of its more unfortunate characteristics. I met all sorts of teenagers who’d gone to these institutions. Some had been “escorted” from their homes in the middle of the night by strangers; others had been tricked into going by their well-meaning parents. I also talked to moms and dads who truly believed they were helping their children, although after hearing what had gone down at these boot camps—from their kids, from media
reports, or from government investigations—some parents weren’t so sure they’d made the best choice.

What made me so sad—and what made me want to write this book—was that many of the kids attending these schools obviously needed help. Some were into drugs, others were messing up at school, and still others had eating disorders or were battling depression. But the staff at these boot camps seemed intent on punishing their students, on breaking them down. What these teens really needed was to be built up. To be nurtured. To be understood. To be helped by qualified professionals.
That
is what therapy is all about.

There are times in life when it can really help to have someone to talk to. Most therapists care about their patients and want them to be happy and healthy. It’s unfortunate that misguidedly hard-core “tough love” places like Red Rock still exist, but thankfully, they are the exception, not the rule.

Acknowledgments

Thank you:

Nina Collins, Maggie Ehrlich, Matthew Elblonk, Lee Forman, Ruth Forman, Tamara Glenny, Eliza Griswold, Shahawna Kim, Deanna Kizis, Kristin Marang, Tamar Schamhart, Nick Tucker, and Willa Eve Forman Tucker.

About the Author

GAYLE FORMAN is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in such publications as
Jane, Seventeen, Glamour, Elle
, and
The New York Times Magazine,
to name just a few. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. You can visit her online at www.gayleforman.com.

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Credits

Cover art © Raimund Linke/Roam Images/Jupiterimages

Cover design by Alison Klapthor

Copyright

SISTERS IN SANITY
. Copyright © 2007 by Gayle Forman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Digital Edition March 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-190894-1

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