What do you think?
Rate this book
The Program
A new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- given them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and you'll never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000.
When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women.
Will they be able to stop The Program before it's too late?
"Brilliant! I recommend The Program to every woman who feels insecure about her body because she thinks she weighs too much. In fact, I recommend The Program to every woman! Charlie Lovett has managed to weave romance, intrigue, suspense and mystery into this story while clearly depicting the insecurities of women who don't like their bodies and how far they will go to become what they think (or society tells them) is the 'perfect woman.'"
Pat Ballard, author of The Best Man, Abigail's Revenge, Nobody's Perfect & Dangerous Curves Short Stories.
When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women.
Will they be able to stop The Program before it's too late?
"Brilliant! I recommend The Program to every woman who feels insecure about her body because she thinks she weighs too much. In fact, I recommend The Program to every woman! Charlie Lovett has managed to weave romance, intrigue, suspense and mystery into this story while clearly depicting the insecurities of women who don't like their bodies and how far they will go to become what they think (or society tells them) is the 'perfect woman.'"
Pat Ballard, author of The Best Man, Abigail's Revenge, Nobody's Perfect & Dangerous Curves Short Stories.
- GenresFiction
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
About the author
Charlie Lovett
28 books1,069 followersI was born in Winston-Salem, NC and grew up as the child of an English professor. We spent our summers in the rural North Carolina mountains, so I felt an early affinity for the countryside. I was educated at Summit School, Woodberry Forest School (VA), and Davidson College (NC) and in 1984 went into the antiquarian book business with my first wife, Stephanie. About the same time I began to seriously collect books and other materials relating to Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
When I left the book business in the early 90s, I continued to be a book collector, and now have a large (and growing) collection of rare (and not so rare) books and artifacts connected to Lewis Carroll and his world.
In 1997 I received my MFA in Writing from Vermont College (now Vermont College of Fine Arts). During my work on this degree I researched and wrote Love, Ruth, a book about my mother, Ruth Candler Lovett, who died when I was two years old. Maya Angelou called the book “tender, sensitive, and true.”
After completing my MFA, I traveled with my wife, Janice, and daughter, Jordan, to England where we lived for six months in Kingham, Oxfordshire. We immersed ourselves in the culture and made lifelong friends. Ten years later, we purchased the cottage we had rented in 1997 and renovated it. My wife and I now spend about 6–8 weeks a year in Kingham, and have traveled extensively throughout the UK.
In 2001, my wife was hired to oversee the third grade drama program at Summit School. Bemoaning the dearth of good material, she asked if I would write a play. Thus began my career as a children’s playwright. For eleven years, as Writer-in-Residence, I wrote plays for third graders and for eighth and ninth graders. Nineteen of my plays have been published and have proved extremely popular and have seen over 3500 productions in all fifty states and more than 20 foreign countries.
During all my years as a writer, I have worked on writing fiction. I wrote my first novel-length manuscript in the early 1990s and, with luck, it will never see the light of day, but it did prove to me that I could write a book-length work of fiction. In 2008, my novel The Program, about an evil weight loss clinic, was published by the micro-press Pearlsong Press, which later published my YA novel The Fat Lady Sings.
But my big break-through as a writer came when I put together two of my passions—rare books and the English countryside—to write The Bookman’s Tale. It was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes and Noble Recommends selection, and has been translated into several foreign languages. Parade Magazine called the book “[A] delightful tale of love and bibliophilia.”
My next novel, First Impressions, is another literary adventure, this one starring Jane Austen. People Magazine called it “a delightful novel that weaves together a modern love story and a literary mystery involving Jane Austen.”
2015 was a busy year for me, being the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I curated a major exhibition called Alice Live! at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. I spoke at the international gathering of Carroll enthusiasts in New York and wrote the introduction to the new Penguin Books edition of Alice. 2016 also saw the publication of my Christmas book, The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge, which USA Today called “[a] clever, merry, and, yes, convincingly Dickensian reimagining of this Victorian tale.”
My new novel, The Lost Book of the Grail, will be published on February 28, 2017. Set in an English cathedral library, and reaching through centuries of English history, it tells the story of bibliophile and Holy Grail enthusiast Arthur Prescott as he works to uncover a centuries-old secret about the cathedral’s history.
None of this could have happened without the support and love of my wonderful wife, Janice, and my fabulous children, Jimmy and Jordan.
When I left the book business in the early 90s, I continued to be a book collector, and now have a large (and growing) collection of rare (and not so rare) books and artifacts connected to Lewis Carroll and his world.
In 1997 I received my MFA in Writing from Vermont College (now Vermont College of Fine Arts). During my work on this degree I researched and wrote Love, Ruth, a book about my mother, Ruth Candler Lovett, who died when I was two years old. Maya Angelou called the book “tender, sensitive, and true.”
After completing my MFA, I traveled with my wife, Janice, and daughter, Jordan, to England where we lived for six months in Kingham, Oxfordshire. We immersed ourselves in the culture and made lifelong friends. Ten years later, we purchased the cottage we had rented in 1997 and renovated it. My wife and I now spend about 6–8 weeks a year in Kingham, and have traveled extensively throughout the UK.
In 2001, my wife was hired to oversee the third grade drama program at Summit School. Bemoaning the dearth of good material, she asked if I would write a play. Thus began my career as a children’s playwright. For eleven years, as Writer-in-Residence, I wrote plays for third graders and for eighth and ninth graders. Nineteen of my plays have been published and have proved extremely popular and have seen over 3500 productions in all fifty states and more than 20 foreign countries.
During all my years as a writer, I have worked on writing fiction. I wrote my first novel-length manuscript in the early 1990s and, with luck, it will never see the light of day, but it did prove to me that I could write a book-length work of fiction. In 2008, my novel The Program, about an evil weight loss clinic, was published by the micro-press Pearlsong Press, which later published my YA novel The Fat Lady Sings.
But my big break-through as a writer came when I put together two of my passions—rare books and the English countryside—to write The Bookman’s Tale. It was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes and Noble Recommends selection, and has been translated into several foreign languages. Parade Magazine called the book “[A] delightful tale of love and bibliophilia.”
My next novel, First Impressions, is another literary adventure, this one starring Jane Austen. People Magazine called it “a delightful novel that weaves together a modern love story and a literary mystery involving Jane Austen.”
2015 was a busy year for me, being the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I curated a major exhibition called Alice Live! at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. I spoke at the international gathering of Carroll enthusiasts in New York and wrote the introduction to the new Penguin Books edition of Alice. 2016 also saw the publication of my Christmas book, The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge, which USA Today called “[a] clever, merry, and, yes, convincingly Dickensian reimagining of this Victorian tale.”
My new novel, The Lost Book of the Grail, will be published on February 28, 2017. Set in an English cathedral library, and reaching through centuries of English history, it tells the story of bibliophile and Holy Grail enthusiast Arthur Prescott as he works to uncover a centuries-old secret about the cathedral’s history.
None of this could have happened without the support and love of my wonderful wife, Janice, and my fabulous children, Jimmy and Jordan.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 11, 2017
The devil made me do it ...
Hard to believe the same author wrote First Impressions
Hard to believe the same author wrote First Impressions
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2017
I enjoyed the author's style of writing, but when the book's premise became obvious about half way through, I didn't like it as much. Dealing with Satan isn't believable to me. Am looking forward to Lovett's Bookman's Tale which has been recommended by many friends.
August 19, 2008
I actually do feel differently about my body shape. Hmm. Interesting. That's the desired effect of this book. If its the visual that affects men, its written or spoken language that affects women. So if you want to get across the message to women about loving and accepting their normal or large body size and shape, do it with a good story. This book is it! This story only covers one aspect of "why" women would want to love their own body shape - the purely physical/carnal/sexual/terrestrial reasons. Those are valid reasons, but because of that focus, the book has graphic descriptions. So for that reason I wouldn't want my unmarried younger teen reading it, but at least in this book the graphic descriptions serve a larger purpose, so its not gratuitous in nature. It's not just a romance novel sex scene.
Great story with some fabulous twists that keep the action unpredictable until the end. And I absolutely agree with the author about WHO is behind the anorexic body shape movement.
I wonder if there could be a story written that would go into the mental, emotional, spiritual, eternal reasons why women would want to love their own body shape.
Great story with some fabulous twists that keep the action unpredictable until the end. And I absolutely agree with the author about WHO is behind the anorexic body shape movement.
I wonder if there could be a story written that would go into the mental, emotional, spiritual, eternal reasons why women would want to love their own body shape.
May 15, 2013
Fantastic. Every young woman should read this book whether underweight, overweight or just right. Besides taking on the issue of insecurity, Charlie Lovett weaves a wonderful, intriguing mystery that kept me interested to the last page. This book is important as well as being entertaining. A must read.
September 6, 2008
This is a great book by my friend and colleague Charlie Lovett. I really enjoyed it!
March 24, 2010
irritatingly message-driven
August 11, 2016
Really good book - very different and makes you think. Love to see this adapted to a movie!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews