Authors: Jill McCorkle

Going Away Shoes (26 page)

—Jayne Anne Phillips, author of
Lark and Termite

“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.”

—
The Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Dazzles with its amiably risky mix of humor, pathos, and down-home Southern wisdom . . . McCorkle renders these familiar yet unique life passages and events with the compassion and sure-handedness she has shown in three previous collections, such as
Creatures of Habit
, and five novels.”

—
Elle

“McCorkle is a talented writer with the ability to illuminate the tiny moments that lie within the larger substance of a woman’s life . . . [She] deftly captures those moments of quiet crisis and contemplation and shares them with the world.”

—
Minneapolis Star Tribune

“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

“These spirited and surprising stories are powered by humor and hard-won understanding of the lacerating effects of union. The result: admirable women who are ‘sure-footed and steady in real time.’ ”

—Amy Hempel, author of
The Dog of the Marriage

“This sure-footed collection is a tribute to women’s power to choose . . . McCorkle’s strength is an earthy sensibility mixed with strong intelligence . . . 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.”

—
The Miami Herald

“Jill McCorkle’s short stories are all little treasures —rich with humor and humanity.”

—
The Louisville Courier-Journal

“Jill McCorkle’s new collection treads deftly into realms of family and women’s lives . . . [A] diamond-faceted work . . . McCorkle inhabits her characters . . . uniquely, authentically, humanly.”

—
The Charlotte Observer

“Sometimes fiction gives us a close-up, and other times a wide-angle shot. When we’re lucky, a story delivers two-for-one, that intimate picture of a face, a kitchen table or a pair of work boots that illuminates the entire so-called human condition. Jill McCorkle has the eye —and the ear —for that kind of portrait . . . Every story has its share of rueful, kick-butt humor.”

—
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“One of our favorite short-story writers, McCorkle delivers 11 new tales of love, strong characters, and down-and-dirty life. Her characters say and do the things you always want to say and do but don’t.”

—
American Way

“McCorkle is an acute observer of the foibles of domestic life . . . She blends empathy for her characters’ predicaments with an unsparing take on those grim circumstances. Still, McCorkle’s stories don’t lack for humor.”

—
BookPage

“McCorkle’s name is synonymous with smart, funny, and perceptive fiction about the disappointments and comforts of ordinary life. In her new set of perfectly crafted, emotionally intricate, and welcoming short stories, McCorkle considers moral quandaries, and how people fumble their way into doing the right thing . . . McCorkle’s sharp humor is matched by moral acuity, and her down-to-earth sensibility is paired with a sense of higher powers.”

—
Booklist

“By necessity, short story writers must craft details with precision, distilling a character into a few spot-on sentences. This is a skill well-honed in Jill McCorkle’s work . . . These small moments, which suffuse everyday life with meaning, are what make McCorkle’s stories so powerful.”

—
ForeWord

“Another fine collection from short-fiction master McCorkle . . . The author’s trademark gifts —vivid, economical characterizations, distinctive voices, fierce intelligence —are evident on every page.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Reading the stories in Jill McCorkle’s
Going Away Shoes
, I kept thinking ‘pleasure’ . . . These stories provide what brilliant fiction always provides —insight, felt life, voices of others, fascination —but more than anything else, they give pleasure. They take me places I have not been. They make me laugh and then cry by turns, and in short they make me feel my own life more vividly. There isn’t another thing anyone can ask of this superior art form.”

—Richard Bausch, author of
Peace

Also by JILL McCORKLE