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.