A moving account of a young woman's torment over her illness and the effect the disfiguration of her body has on her relationships with her caregivers, family, friends, and sexual partners. The author herself has endured twelve operations, and she describes ileostomy with a degree of intimacy that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and fiction. Her vivid portraits of a surgeon (whom she calls "The Prophet"), a psychiatrist (called "the Wizard"), and hospital nurses, are sometimes tinged with anger, but always credible. A visit to the real Toronto abortion clinic of the real Dr. Henry Morgentaler is told with clinical precision and without pseudonyms.