By clicking “Accept,” you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies on your device as set forth in our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. Please note that certain cookies are essential for this website to function properly and do not require user consent to be deployed.

Going Away Shoes

Contributors

By Jill McCorkle

Formats and Prices

Price

$9.99

Price

$12.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $9.99 $12.99 CAD
  2. Trade Paperback $13.95 $18.95 CAD

"[A] remarkable collection . . . Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find." —People

The foibles of the people in Jill McCorkle’s world are so familiar that we want nothing so much as to watch them walk into—and then get out of—life’s inevitable traps. Here, in her first collection in eight years, McCorkle collects eleven brand-new stories bristling with her characteristic combination of wit and weight.

In honeymoon shoes, mud-covered hunting boots, or glass slippers, all of the women in these stories march to a place of new awareness, in one way or another, transforming their lives. They make mistakes, but they don’t waste time hiding behind them. They move on. They are strong. And they’re funny, even when they are sad.

These stories are the work of a great storyteller who knows exactly how—and why—to pair pain with laughter.

  • "McCorkle is an expert at engineering catharsis through good salty rants, but the best thing about these stories is the sense of romance and wonder in long-overdue journeys of self-discovery." --New York Times Book Review
    Los Angeles Times
  • "[A] remarkable collection . . . Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find." --People
    Atlanta Journal Constitution
  • "There are writers who seem to write it like it is--the quietness of their characters is not exaggerated, nor is their drama. They could live down the street or in the next apartment. Jayne Anne Phillips, Antonia Nelson--these are writers whose characters have no special aura, no golden ticket. Jill McCorkle's characters are like this." --Los Angeles Times
    Miami Herald
  • "McCorkle's latest book gives us 11 reasons to smile . . . 11 cheerfully furious stories about women who have come to a screeching halt in their pursuit of happiness . . . The joy of reading and rereading each of these marvelous stories is to discover the truths encoded into each step of every hard-won journey--and to find ourselves along the way." --Atlanta Journal Constitution
    The New York Times Book Review
  • "The stories are small tributes to tenacity and spirit and choice--even when that choice is simply to keep putting one foot in front of the other." --Miami Herald
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • “McCorkle is an expert at engineering catharsis through good salty rants, but the best thing about these stories is the sense of romance and wonder in long-overdue journeys of self-discovery.”
    People
  • “The joy of reading and rereading each of these marvelous sto- ries is to discover the truths encoded into each step of every hard-won journey—and to find ourselves along the way.”
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • "Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find.”


    The Boston Globe
  • “Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find.”


  • “The joy of reading and rereading each of these marvelous stories is to discover the truths encoded into each step of every hard-won journey—and to find ourselves along the way.”
  • “These gems are written by a master craftswoman. Each story deserves savoring, as melancholy and humor work beautifully together in this artful collection.”

On Sale
Sep 14, 2010
Page Count
288 pages
Publisher
Algonquin Books
ISBN-13
9781616200282

jill-mccorkle

Jill McCorkle

About the Author

Jill McCorkle has the distinction of having published her first two novels on the same day in 1984.  Of these novels, the New York Times Book Review said: “one suspects the author of The Cheer Leader is a born novelist.  With July 7th, she is also a full grown one.” Since then she has published five other novels—most recently, Hieroglyphics—and four collections of short stories. Five of her books have been named New York Times notable books and four of her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories.  McCorkle has received the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, the North Carolina Award for Literature and the Thomas Wolfe Prize; she was recently inducted into the NC Literary Hall of Fame. McCorkle has taught at Harvard, Brandeis, and NC State where she remains affiliated with the MFA Program in creative writing and she is core faculty in the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Learn more about this author