Good take on body-image

Victoria Dawson was blond and blue-eyed and had a pretty face, but she was also big-boned and had a tendency to put on weight. Unfortunately she was born into a family of slender, dark-haired people. Her parents constantly put her down as a "big" girl, her father saying she looked like the homely Queen Victoria and was the "tester" baby for her younger sister Grace, who was perfect. Her mother was just as bad, always talking about Victoria's weight and wondering if she'd ever get a man. Is it any wonder she found solace in food?

Although Victoria was bright and when she graduated from college found a job in a prestigious private school in New York, her dad downgraded it, saying she'd never make a decent living as a teacher. Her younger sister Grace, who went to USC and was the ideal California girl, was everything Victoria was not. Remarkably the sisters adored one another, in spite of everything, but when Gracie falls in love and plans to marry a very rich young man, to her patents' delight, Victoria is terribly worried. She feels Gracie's fiance is as self-centered as their father and will bring her little sister only unhappiness, but of course no one listens to her. Then a chance encounter in a gym, of all places, leads to a self-appraisal and acceptance of herself, weight and all. It takes some doing but Vistoria finally sees herself as the very special person she is and no longer needs ice cream and pizza to blunt the pain.