In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner is a novel of sisterhood, life changes, and of course, shoes. Plump older sister Rose Feller is a successful lawyer. She can afford beautiful designer shoes, although she lacks the confidence to wear them. Beautiful, flighty Maggie, the younger sister, lives her more marginal life getting what she wants with her looks. The women have a pattern established over the years. Maggie messes up and Rose fixes things. When Maggie moves in with Rose during a particularly low point however, Maggie messes up so badly that Rose not only doesn’t fix it, she wants nothing more to do with her troubled sibling.

As a result of Maggie’s lapse in judgment, the two women find themselves, for the first time, going their separate ways completely. They are both inspired to change, through their own determination and with the help of an eclectic cast of characters. I won’t go into detail about what transpires, but let’s just say that Rose learns to lighten up and find true love, while Maggie learns that she is more than just a pretty face.

What has any of this got to do with shoes, you might ask. Not all that much really. Rose does like good shoes, and Maggie does tend to “borrow” them, but aside from that it is more a metaphorical thing. Sort of like that old saying about not judging someone before walking a mile in their shoes. When you put yourself in another’s shoes, figuratively, you can see life from their perspective. When you do it literally, you are either going to be very uncomfortable in shoes that are too big, too small, or just not your style or maybe, if you are standing in the shoes of your sole mate, you will find yourself with a perfect pair! Are Maggie and Rose a perfect pair? Read In Her Shoes and find out for yourself. It isn’t a very taxing read, but it is charming and even somewhat thought provoking.

In Her Shoes
by Jennifer Weiner
Available at Amazon.com