Beautiful Stranger A Memoir of an Obsession with Perfection

Hope Donahue seemed to have it all: beauty, wealth, social status. She was an only child who grew up with the best private schools, debutante balls, and a home in Hancock Park, Los Angeles#015#226#128#153s old-money enclave#014. But beneath the familyÐ#128#153s façade of #015#226#128#156kee#014ping up appearances,Ð#128#157 Hope hid a host of ugly truths, including a mother increasingly jealous of her daughterÐ#128#153s good looks, an uncleÐ#128#153s sexual advances, and a father who cowed to the demands of his wife and coolly reserved parents. Hope became addicted to a quest for physical perfection in place of her self-esteemÐ#128#148and by the age of twenty-seven she had undergone seven plastic surgeries. In riveting, unflinching prose, Hope recounts her downward spiral that alienated her family and friends, and led her to theft, bankruptcy, and a sadistic relationship before she began her recovery.