Fugitive Shoes - Hardcover

O'Rourke, Erin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594144443 ISBN 13: 9781594144448

Publisher: Five Star, 2006

Synopsis

Driving across the Arizona desert, Sally Jasper collides with a man who sprints suddenly out of the sand and across the highway. The man—an illegal Mexican immigrant—is killed upon impact. Haunted by a rising ghost of guilt, Sally vows to set things right again. She soon learns that the dead man was being chased, and the gang of vigilantes who were pursuing him are as dangerous as they are unpredictable. Sally realizes she has something in common with the dead stranger: a yearning for freedom.

This desire leads her to form an unlikely rock-n’-roll band which she uses as a front to conceal her perilous plan to smuggle a Mexican family across the border. But her task is complicated by her budding romance with an Immigration officer. . . .

The deeper she lets this man into her life, the closer he gets to the truth. Her days become a minefield, where one misstep will cost her everything she holds dear. And if that weren’t enough, a group of so-called patriots is scouring the area for signs of unlawful aliens; their justice is cruel and swift. Sally and her friends come into direct contention with these armed bigots, and as their popularity as musicians grows, so does the enmity between them and the men who would expose their Mexican stowaways.

Fugitive Shoes is a story of three women’s efforts to let go of the past, to find unexpected love, to mingle with dangerous people, and to thwart the law when the law seems wrong. Most of all it is a story of libertad: Freedom.

About this title

About the Author:

Erin O’Rourke can be described in many ways: novelist, teacher, game-player, star-gazer, picture-framer, dancer, and counter of chickens long before they hatch. Erin lives in the American southwest, in the company of cookbooks, fantasy roleplaying games, the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay, and a dog named Nadine.

A fascination with both shoes and rock-n’-roll led to the creation of Fugitive Shoes, though Erin can neither play the guitar nor walk with any grace in three-inch heels.

From Booklist:

Three women, friends since elementary school, are driving back to Fresh Waters, Arizona, their car full of shoes for Sally's store, when a man runs into their path. As the women wait for help and watch over the dying man, they realize that he was being pursued. With binoculars in hand, they spy the ferocious men who caused the accident, and Sally becomes determined to assuage her guilt and help the illegal aliens that these self-appointed vigilantes harass. Full of righteous indignation, Sally and her friends help a Mexican family achieve their dream of coming to the United States, inadvertently putting themselves in peril from the private border patrollers. The havoc in their lives solidifies their friendships and makes the women realize what is truly important. As in Seeing Pink (2003), O'Rourke pushes the envelope, taking the commonplace theme of women's friendships into dangerous territory and dramatizing what women can do, not just to help themselves but also to bring justice to others. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Five Star
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1594144443
• ISBN 13: 9781594144448
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 427