In Her Shoes

In Her Shoes (2002) is a work of Jewish American literature by Jennifer Weiner. It tells the story of two sisters and their estranged grandmother. The novel was a New York Times bestseller. The two sisters happen to wear the same size shoes - the only common ground that they have besides a mutual hatred of their step-mother. Plot summary Rose and Maggie Feller are two young sisters who share little in common except their shoe size. Rose is the eldest and has been watching after Maggie since they were young children and their mother Caroline died in a car accident. They were raised by their father Michael (perpetually in mourning for Caroline) and stepmother Sydelle (who resents them both and often makes Rose feel bad about her weight). Rose is a thirty-year-old single, successful lawyer who struggles with her weight and who resents her younger sister's beauty and sexual attractiveness and lack of stability. Ever since she was young, Rose has had the desire to be popular. She also feels responsible for her sister and is frustrated with how each attempt to help Maggie backfires on her. Maggie, a twenty-eight-year-old who uses her beauty and charming nature to hide the obstacles she faces due to dyslexia and related learning difficulties, resents Rose's academic success and consequent wealth. Maggie is resentful of only ever holding a series of minimum wage jobs that leave her dependent on the charity of others especially her father and Rose. After middle school, standardized testing sets them on different paths in high school: Rose's success on the exams leads to Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania Law School; Maggie is unable to take the exams and is consequently sidelined in high school and due to her inability to cope with school work, she drops out of high school. She is unable to hold on to any job for long and struggles to manage her money so much so that she is evicted from her flat. Rose offers to support Maggie until her life gets sorted out by giving her a place to stay. Both are nearing the age of their mother when she died, Rose and Maggie each feel as if there is a vacuum in their lives which they are unable to fill. After wearing out her welcome with Rose (by sleeping with Rose's boyfriend in Rose's bed) and being evicted from her father's home by her stepmother, Maggie runs away, choosing to hide in Princeton University, which she had visited when Rose was a student.