Journalist Jenny Valentish investigates the female experience of drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Mining the expertise of leading researchers, she explores the early predictors of addiction, such as childhood trauma and temperament, and teenage impulsivity. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with substance use. Valentish follows the pathways that women take into addiction – and out again. Woman of Substances is a rigorous and brutally honest read.