The Whole Clove Diet Author:Mary W. Walters As she breaks 200 pounds, and not in a good way, 29-year-old Rita finds herself married to a self-focused widower with two difficult kids and a mother who almost makes Rita?s own mother look like a role model?which is really saying something. Graham?s first wife, being dead, just keeps getting better and better in everyone?s memories while Rita ... more »just gets fatter and more aggravated. She?s tried every diet in the book, but it?s not until a family crisis forces her out the door that she discovers that the easiest way to thin is to get rid of the baggage on the inside. Funny and insightful, The Whole Clove Diet is sure to make readers of all shapes and sizes feel better about themselves?and ultimately maybe even about Rita. If you enjoy the fiction of Ann Patchett, Tama Janowitz, Fay Weldon and Wally Lamb, you?re going to love The Whole Clove Diet. A top-100 semi-finalist in the first-ever Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition, The Whole Clove Diet is part diary of an eating addiction, part domestic drama, part comedy and part tale of the growing awareness and independence of a young woman poised on the precipice of maturity. You will shake your head at Rita, smile at her in recognition ? and, ultimately, cheer her on as she begins to clean up the quagmire of her life.« less