The Cooper Chronicles- A Dysmorphia Novella

The Cooper Chronicles

Cooper Silverstones prestigious family ancestry goes back for decades, everything about her life is decadent. From the moment she could speak she's known that beauty is the way to get anywhere in life, how to pout and smile her way out of any situation as she's won pageant after pageant so frequently that they've all merged together in her mind into one massive show, it sometimes feels like that's all her life is, a perfect show from the outside, with an unattractive mess hiding behind the facade. 

When it comes to light that her Father has been embezzling money from his company and he leaves his family to deal with the aftermath, Cooper's life abruptly changes and she is left in the care of her barely functioning, alcoholic Mother and the life of an heiress she always expected to lead is nothing more than a fantasy. Forced to attend the local high school, Cooper quickly learns to weaponise her own beauty and receives admiration wherever she goes.

The only part of her life that isn't a perfectly rehearsed play with her as the lead is her friendship with Florence Clarke, someone who she can share her heart with in a world that wants to see nothing but her pretty smile. Like all good things, her friendship comes crashing down when Florence is put on the infamous Phillipson High "List" as the "FBPG." Torn between her loyalty and immense fear of being seen as an outcast coming from an already shamed family, Cooper chooses popularity over the only person she truly cares about and can only watch from the sidelines as she sees an eating disorder take a hold of her best friend as she herself pops pill after pill and finds herself sleeping in a different bed every night to try and escape the world she knows she has created for herself, a miserable one. Her only real outlet becomes an online blog, 'The Cooper Chronicles.'

Three years later, Cooper has Florence back in her life which is about the only positive thing going for her as she grieves the loss of her Mother and tries to figure out what she can do next, all the while with the secret of her addiction hanging heavy over her. That is until she meets Sam Franco, a traveller visiting her town with the fair and begins to believe that maybe, she won't have to be so alone anymore.

Firstly let me just put it out there that I never, and I mean never thought I was going to write a Dysmorphia book, it's been four years since I published all three of the books within one year and now looking back on that I find it crazy. I didn't expect the story of Florence to resonate with as many people as it did and even now look at the reads and comments on the books and feel surprised. Two days ago I was sitting at my laptop and began to write a chapter which I ended up realising was about Cooper as I looked back on it, I've always wanted to explore her character more, alot of my readers tend to heavily dislike her in the first book and I wanted to write about her background and in a way give an explanation for her actions whilst also as always touching on some important subjects: body confidence, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy will all be covered in this book as a trigger warning although I put them at the start of relevant chapters also.

So, I hope you enjoy what I have to write... this is crazy exciting and I would appreciate all of your comments and feedback as usual!

x Rahma