By the time she was 18, Caroline Jones had lived in five different
African countries as well as Pakistan. Her father worked for the UN, and
the family followed him to countries in or on the border of civil wars
and famines. It was a childhood full of adventure, but it was also
transient and impermanent.
At 16 she went to boarding school in England and then on to Oxford
University. At 17 Caroline developed bulimia, a disease that became like
a lover to her, her map through darkness. She suffered for 14 years
before finding a therapist who would ultimately help her along the road
to recovery. Now, aged 39, she is happy, healthy, and married with two
children. The story of her illness is interwoven with memories of her
childhood and visits to Africa as well her family and relationships.
The Spaces in Between is an engaging, frank and inspiring memoir which
transcends its specific subject to be a perceptive and thought-provoking
look at the behavioral traps into which so many of us fall. There are
lessons in it for all who have wrestled with self-destructive behavior
and struggled to find compassion for themselves.
