At 56, Clara thought her sudden weight gain and blinding pain meant the end of her life. But the clinic’s diagnosis was far more shocking. And when her estranged daughter finally discovered the truth, her reaction triggered a nightmare no one saw coming…

right for months—tired all the time, hungry in strange waves, swollen through the middle until her skirts pinched—but she had explained it away the way women her age often did. Age. Hormones. Too much bread. Too many evenings sitting after supper instead of walking.

Now she thought of her neighbor, Ruth Ann, who had gone thin as kindling before anyone continue reading …