Romantic Times

If You Walked in My Shoes is an emotionally moving tale that grabs readers' attention from the start. Forster evokes empathy with the situations that mother and daughter experience.

Vivid details add realism and depth and create smooth transitions throughout. This ranks as one of Forster's most thought-provoking reads. - TL Burton

From Booklist
Coreen Holmes Treadwell is well respected in Bakerville, North Carolina, but when she is called to testify before a senate committee, she is paralyzed with fear that her secret will be revealed. While in high school, she was raped and became pregnant. Thrown out by her parents, she gave the baby up for adoption, went to college, became a hardworking and valued social worker, and married a man named Bates, becoming stepmother to his two children. Now she is afraid that Bates will find out about her past troubles and that she'll lose his love and respect. Meanwhile, unknown to Coreen, her child, Frieda, is looking for her and seeking revenge because her adopted father abused her. Mother and daughter are on a collision course that brings out the worst in both women, causing them to jeopardize the good in their lives. Forster's understated style allows for an insightful inquiry into the plight of African American women and the men who abuse them. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Harriet Klausner

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Leon Farrell finally persuades seventeen years old classmate Coreen Holmes to allow him to walk her home from school after several weeks of pleading. However, in an isolated locale, Leon rapes Coreen. She gives up the child for adoption.

When Frieda Davis turned twelve she had her first period and everything changed in her adoptive home. Instead of tucking her in her bed, papa rapes her. He continues to molest her until at seventeen Frieda ran away from home vowing to one day confront her biological mother.

Almost thirteen years later Frieda has made something of herself, but now stalks Coreen from afar learning that her mother led a wonderful life married to Bates Treadwell and having raised two stepsons Glen and Eric with him. As Coreen continues to do good deeds to improve society, Frieda sets in motion a plan to destroy her.

This reviewer cannot think of anyone who can write a better contemporary poignant drama than Gwynne Forster consistently does. Her latest tale borrows its title from a famous Native American saying "try walking in my moccasins" as the two lead females will learn what it is like to be the other. The story line is character driven but never dips into soap opera territory as the cast seems genuine and the ending realistic. Ms. Forster once again provides one of the most astute yet entertaining tales of the year, which is why I am a fan.

Harriet Klausner

RAWSISTAZ.com (4.5 stars)

The prologue for IF YOU WALKED IN MY SHOES alerted me that there would be a day of reckoning. Coreen Holmes was raped by one of her classmates when she was seventeen years old, and her die was cast. Thirteen year old Frieda Davis was sexually abused by her adoptive father, a fate which continued for four years; until Frieda fled into the night.

A much older Coreen Holmes Treadwell is on the brink of fulfilling her dream as the president of the International Society of Social and Welfare Agency. For the past 29 years she has dedicated her
time to social and welfare issues. And for that same period she has lived behind a façade, with the fear that her darkest secret would be unveiled. But how long does a secret remain a secret? Coreen's fear is manifested when her past walks into her present.

Frieda needs closure to her past; her adoptive parents are deceased and she needs to know her roots. Also embedded in her heart is the drive to fulfill a vendetta against her biological mother. But will her vindictive intent produce an outcome more devastating than her past?

IF YOU WALKED IN MY SHOES is a dramatic story about two women emotionally damaged by violent acts, and the aftermath that reverberated throughout their lives. The destiny of these women was propelled by outside forces at a time when neither was mature enough to accept the outcome. And while each chose a different way to deal with their past, somehow that difference had an element of sameness. Premature in their judgment about one another, things become clearer
when they share the opportunity to walk in each other's shoes. Ms. Forster methodically highlights the emotional anguish of the characters and the havoc the repercussions caused in Coreen and
Frieda's lives, yet it is the very havoc that served to strengthened them.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers