Before I read Beautiful, i was aware who Katie was but didn't know much about her except for the fact she had had been attacked with acid and now is raising awareness of acid attack victims and raising money for their treatment. I didn't for example know that she was a model or that for 2 years after the attack she had to wear a plastic pressurised mask for 23 hours a day. But the thing that surprised me the most was that it wasn't a random attack, her attacker - Daniel Lynch - was her boyfriend, and the worst thing of all was that he had already been convicted multiple times for violence and had served a sentence for throwing boiling water in another mans face.
In Beautiful we learn of Katie's life from before the attack, during her recovery and on her way to getting her life back. It is a book that when you describe it words don't seem to do it justice. Through the writing we can tell that Katie is one tough cookie and is not going to be knocked down by others. She is determined to raise the profile of acid burns victims, so that they themselves can gain the confidence to face the world again. She does this through the work of her charity, The Katie Piper Foundation (here for more details) and the work with Channel 4 she has done.
When I was reading the book, I couldn't put it down, I would read it when I ate breakfast, drying my hair, on the bus to college, and before I went to bed.To me that makes it a good, well written and thought about book. I believe that one of the things that as a reader we can take from the book is that society focuses too much on the word "BEAUTIFUL", just because a person looks different to you doesn't make them or yourself ugly, we are all equally beautiful. I'd recommend this book to anybody who wants to read a truly heart moving story of a young woman who has to go through a awful thing. Rating: 10/10
Where to buy: Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmiths
Photo credit: Tumblr
