In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it(anywhere i go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear

no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life
which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Rose and Maggie May were left to grow up on their own after their mother died and their father became withdrawn and eventually remarried. With no one to introduce them into the world of adulthood, each sister makes her own way with the recourses life has given to her.

Rose is smart, in the traditional sense of the word. She is a lawyer, has a great job and apartment. What she lacks is beauty, fashion, grace, and any form of self love. She wants to be beautiful like Maggie, but is also very snotty and bossy about Maggie’s lack of responsibility.

Maggie is beautiful and resourceful, but she is learning that using her body to advance in the world rarely gets you anywhere you want to be. Her dyslexia put her behind is school and makes holding a job difficult. She wishes she was smart like Rose, which eventually leads to her betrayal of their somewhat rocky sisterly bond.

One small thing that makes the story more realistic and relatable is that Rose and Maggie have different memories of their childhood. They were impacted differently by things they went through together and they have their own memories that the other sister doesn’t share.

Most of the things I have mentioned are complete incidentals. Rose and Maggie have a typical sister relationship. They hurt each other a lot, and they don’t start trusting each other again just because they are sisters. The great thing is that each sister eventually sees what she is lacking and becomes a balanced adult. The change brings them back together and gives them the will to reinvest in each other.

In Her Shoes is well written, with interesting in depth characters and real life struggles. The resolution is great without being over the top. I would recommend it as an airplane or chilling out book.