In Her Shoes

The Feller sisters are equal but opposite. Maggie is the good-looking, dyslexic little sister who knows how to get anything she wants--but not how to keep it. She "felt as if somewhere between the ages of fourteen and sixteen she'd walked off the edge of a cliff and had been falling ever since." Rose is the plump, practical, responsible older sister who knows about law but not much about her own happiness: "What did she like, besides shoes, and Jim, and foods that were bad for her?" When Maggie's latest eviction lands her in Rose's apartment, and Maggie insults Rose by seducing one of her sister's rare boyfriends, what follows is a chain of events by turns hilarious and heartbreaking. Embarrassed Rose evicts Maggie and begins a work sabbatical leading to a new livelihood and way of living. Maggie flees and runs away to Princeton. Masquerading as a student, she learns to love poetry and saves money for a trip to Miami--and a visit to a long-lost grandmother named Ella who might offer her a last shot at sanctuary. But In Her Shoes, the second novel from Good in Bed author Jennifer Weiner, is about more than the sisters' latest sibling rivalry; Maggie and Rose must sort out the childhood vulnerabilities and family mysteries that still linger two decades after their mother's death. In less capable hands, the plot might grow corny, but Weiner's humor and affection for the characters ultimately helps them transcend both neuroses and grief and learn the redemptive power of love. --Jane Hodges