The doctor's voice is sad but firm: 'I'm very sorry, but I have to tell you that your little girl is unlikely to reach her tenth birthday.' Years later, having defied the odds and become a teenager, the same girl discovers a medical report that tells her, to her horror, she is overweight.That was the moment the young Rosemary Conley decided to change her life.

After leaving school at 15, training as a secretary and working as a Tupperware dealer, Rosemary started her own slimming classes in 1972 with an investment of just £8. Ten years later, she sold the classes to IPC Magazines for £52,000.

In 1983, she published the first of 36 books that were to sell in their millions around the world, alongside millions more of her fitness videos, while also starring in her own TV shows on BBC and ITV. She became, in short, one of the most popular and successful diet and fitness experts the world has seen.

But Rosemary's life was not to be one of unbounded achievement and success. Like all of us, she's lived through good times and bad times, and in Through Thick and Thin she tells of the sorrows and setbacks that were to come – as well as the joy she found, and still finds, in helping people to live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Through Thick and Thin is told with Rosemary Conley's characteristic verve and charm, her disarmingly honest and life-affirming story will touch the hearts of millions of her fans who have followed her over the years. It will also endear her to all who enjoy a positive story of faith, love and resilience, and how those qualities can carry someone, through thick and thin, to a place of true fulfillment and contentment.