Dietland: A Novel

By Sarai Walker

Now an AMC Original series starring Joy Nash and Julianna Margulies ‘Sarai Walker has written a call to arms. Devious, subversive, delightful, Dietland is a SCUM Manifesto set to a pop music beat and Plum Kettle is a feminist hero for the modern age.’ —Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones

The diet revolution is here. And it’s armed.

Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. Or mocked. Or worse. She works answering fan mail for a popular teen magazine, and is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. Only then can her “true life” as a thin person finally begin.

But when Plum notices she’s being followed by a mysterious woman in colorful tights and combat boots, she finds herself falling down a rabbit hole into the world of Calliope House, a community of women who live life on their own terms. Reluctant but intrigued, Plum agrees to a series of challenges that force her to deal with the real costs of becoming “beautiful.” At the same time, a dangerous guerrilla group begins to terrorize a world that mistreats women, and as Plum grapples with her personal struggles, she becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive.

Part coming-of-age story, part revenge fantasy, Dietland is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight-loss obsession from the inside out — and with fists flying.

‘Part Fight Club, part feminist manifesto, an offbeat and genre-bending novel that aims high—and delivers.’ —Kirkus Review

‘Sarai Walker is an immensely talented writer and her debut novel, Dietland—filled with wit, wisdom and wonder—is a pleasure.’ —Jill McCorkle, author of Life After Life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Inc. Books
• Release date: May 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781925203318

Sarai Walker

Sarai Walker is the author of the novel Dietland, which has been published in more than a dozen countries and adapted as a television series for AMC. She has lectured on feminism and body image internationally, and has spoken about these topics widely in the media. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and elsewhere, and she worked as a writer and editor on an updated version of Our Bodies, Ourselves. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College and a PhD in English from the University of London. She lives in Philadelphia.