In 'The Trick is to Keep Breathing', Janice Galloway takes us into the mind of drama teacher Joy Stone, as she struggles with mental illness following the death of her lover, Michael.
Joy opens a tin of vegetable soup, plunges her hand in and cuts herself. Before this, its contents are described in almost ghoulish terms: slimy, unpleasant, dark red, watery stuff like plasma seeping up the sides pg 38.
This is an important turning point as it marks the beginning of Joy’s eating disorder. Disgusted and morbidly fascinated by the tin, Joy comes to the conclusion:
