Sizzling tacos...peanut butter...bagels with

cream cheese. The enemy pursued BarbaraAvers

everywhere, invading her nostrils, seducing her

taste buds, disguising itself in toffee-colored

clouds, raspberry mousse roses and designer

dresses just the shade of creme caramel.

It began the night her best friend died from lung

cancer, when a grief-stricken Barbara flung her

last carton of cigarettes into Lake Michigan. That

was in February, when she weighed 105 pounds.

Now day by day, her appetite grows bigger and so

does Barbara. Her husband Franklin, an ambitious

lawyer running for political office, is spending

more time with his blonde, slim campaign man-

ager.

Her children are ashamed of her. Barbara crams

another jelly doughnut into her mouth as her

world begins to crumble.

Moving through the terrifying world of Weight

Watchers, Nutrisystems and Nautilus, Barbara

watches her problems expand with her waistline.

"If only I were thin again," she thinks, "my Life

would be perfect once more."

But perfect it never was--or the chance to re-

sume her newspaper career wouldn t be quite so

tempting. Nor would she be quite so unsettled

and pleased at the amorous attentions of Mac, the

paper s virile, irreverent crime reporter. Sud-

denly, Barbara s world is expanding too.