What would happen to your life if you literally had to walk around in someone else’s shoes? This is the seemingly simple premise of SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES by Jojo Moyes. Like a grounded version of a Freaky Friday story, with gym bags swapping instead of bodies. I was initially intrigued by the real-life application of a common metaphor. But then I quickly fell in love with the ensemble of women at the story’s core and their interwoven narratives as they face their fears and figure out their lives.

The story starts with a mix-up at the gym. When Sam and Nisha accidentally end up with each other’s bags, the simple swap unfurls into a swift series of surprising consequences. Sam is tired, so so tired; tired of her terrible new boss, her husband’s debilitating depression, her needy parents, and a life that looks so different than it did just a year ago. Honestly, she’s too tired for the gym, the only reason she’s there is because she has a gift certificate that is about to expire. But, as she rushes to a client meeting she mistakenly takes a gym bag with a pair of red crocodile Louboutins and finds herself forced to wear them for the day. Nisha, the original owner of the expensive heels, leaves the gym to find her life turned upside-down, with only the contents of Sam’s neglected gym bag to comfort her. As both women try to navigate the continuously escalating fallout (both positive and negative), they come to find that perhaps there is wisdom, perspective, and maybe even happiness to be found in Someone Else’s Shoes.

The cast of characters continually drew me in; the friendships that were already present and those newly forged, reminded me of all the ways women can be especially wondrous when we come together. Maybe there can be, after all, a little magic in a mundane mix-up. 

Buy the book HERE.