For years, Katherine Luden believed she had found a kind of safety in her eating disorder – ED, not Edward, Edwin, or anyone you’d proudly introduce to your parents. A constant, a companion, even a “best friend.” But what felt like protection was, in reality, quietly dismantling her life.
In My Best Friend, ED, Katherine invites readers into the beautifully chaotic, often absurd, and deeply human experience of living with – and eventually breaking free from – an eating disorder. With sharp wit and unflinching honesty, she explores the deceptive comfort of disordered thinking, the identity it constructs, and the moments it steals.
This is not a story told in heavy clinical language or wrapped in despair. Instead, it is a memoir that balances humour with depth, illuminating the realities of mental illness in a way that is both accessible and profoundly moving. Through missed moments, hard-earned insight, and the gradual reclaiming of self, Katherine reveals what it truly takes to let go of something that once felt like survival.
Raw, relatable, and unexpectedly funny, My Best Friend, ED challenges stigma, opens conversation, and ultimately proves that healing is not neat or linear – but it is possible, and is worth choosing, again and again.
About the Author
Katherine Luden
Katherine Luden is a South African writer, mother, entrepreneur with a passion for honest conversations about mental health, healing, and what it means to survive life with both humour and heart. She holds a degree in Dramatic Performing Arts, as well as postgraduate qualifications in Foundation Phase Education and Marketing & Advertising. Drawing from both lived experience and sharp observational wit, Katherine writes with unflinching honesty. Her work blends dark humour, vulnerability, and vivid storytelling to create narratives that feel deeply human, relatable, and alive. When she’s not writing, Katherine runs a hospitality business in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, where she lives with her husband and daughter. My Best Friend, ED is her debut memoir.
For enquiries, please contact the author below.
Please indicate your name, phone number and reason for enquiry.