Author(s): Ann Dowsett Johnston

Biography & Memoir

The new face of risky drinking is female. But what is behind the rise in alcohol consumption and abuse among women in recent years?

Eight years ago, Ann Dowsett Johnston was an award-winning journalist and vice-principal of McGill University. In private though, she was wrestling the demon that had undone her own mother, the same demon that increasing numbers of women are now battling across the world: alcohol. Aware of her growing dependency, Ann began to document her experiences with drink - the rules she set and inevitably broke, and the terrible consequences. Interweaving the moving story of her own addiction with the stories of other women facing the same struggle, along with in-depth research and interviews with leading academics and researchers, Dowsett Johnston illuminates a startling epidemic. From the 17-year-old heart attack victim to the mother of a child with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, she creates an alarming composite of the female face of dangerous drinking.

In this startlingly honest book, Ann Dowsett Johnson reveals why the relationship between women and alcohol has spiralled out of control. Showing how women can escape from this destructive affair, Drink is essential reading for any woman who thinks she has a problem, and for those who care about her.