There is hardly a woman alive - fat, thin or in-between - who doesn't wish she could alter the body she was born with. From childhood on, we're bombarded with imagery from Barbie dolls to starvation chic that tells us we can never be too thin or too young.

The cosmetics, fashion and diet industries, the mass media and the burgeoning business of cosmetic surgery all profit from this message. But for women and girls there's a high price to pay: low self-esteem, body hatred and eating disorders are now a major part of their lives.

The Body Snatchers, written in an engaging and witty style, looks at the rampant conditioning of women and girls by those pushing starvation imagery. Cyndi Tebbel encourages women of all ages to stop obsessing about the shape they're in and to challenge society's preoccupation with an "ideal" body that is unnatural and, for the vast majority of women, unattainable.