Her name is Leah; and she is an alcoholic. Having denied this to herself for so long, she finally realises that she has a problem, and attends a rehabilition centre to try to get her life back under control. However, part of the process of healing is understanding exactly what is the root cause of her drinking.

This book is written in the first person and contains her thoughts, discussions with others, and the comments that she writes down for analysis about her life, her relationships with friends and family, and the others in the rehab centre. The underlying issues are slowly teased out as you get deeper into the story; she is suffering with a lack of self worth that is the result of a number of key factors in her life which she covers up by drinking heavily. Only after she accepts this, can she begin to re-build her confidence in her own value, and learn to love herself again.

The story does contain a certain amount of Christian beliefs and has a slightly evangelical tone about it; but I have no issue with that, as I consider that you should use what works for you as an individual. The story refers to a number of real tragedies in Leah's life that are sadly far more common than most people realise. However, it is well written, nicely structured and a good read if you are not too depressed by human fraility.

My only main criticism is that the book seemed to finish a bit abruptly; I was expecting to see a specific ending, but it just seemed to end in mid-air leaving a number of key issues unanswered. I will also say that the last section is a bit odd; it's a series of questions about the plot which almost reminded me of some English Literature exam question papers.

But overall a good read; worth putting the effort into, in order to understand the issues involved.