“The Luckiest Girl in the World”

This paperback novel is from the author of the novel and subsequent film “The Best Little Girl in the World” and is similar in its fictionalized treatment of a psychiatric disorder found primarily among teenage girls and young women. “The Best Little Girl” was about anorexia nervosa. Steven Levenkron’s new book is centered on self-mutilation. The central character is a teenage figure-skating champion with an abusive mother. To deal with the pressures of her life, she begins cutting herself. The story is simple and predictable. And yet Levenkron, a psychotherapist, does a good job explaining the phenomenon of self-mutilation, from which an estimated 2 million people suffer. The book is written for adults, but would also be an excellent young adult selection and a thoughtful addition to mother-daughter book club reading lists.