Hungry Shoes out September 2023
Maddie and Grace meet in an adolescent psychiatric unit after each has committed desperate self-injurious acts in response to years of abuse, neglect, and chaos. Together they navigate the surreal world of their fellow patients while staff provide nurturance and guidance to support their healing journeys. With the help of veteran psychiatrist Mary Swenson, Maddie and Grace come to terms with their pasts and discover the inner fortitude they need to create futures filled with empowerment and hope.
"HUNGRY SHOES is the story of two young women who meet because of their respective traumas, but whose friendship grows through mutual healing. Both Maddie and Grace are hungry: for love, for hope, for truth. The stories of their pasts will break your heart, but their bright-eyed hope and resilience will have you rooting for them until the very end."
~T. Greenwood, Such a Pretty Girl
"Hungry Shoes is an emotional journey through the scar tissue of complicated lives. But the real feat pulled off by authors Boggio and Pearl is the impact on the reader, drawing us out of our cynicism, daring us to believe in humans again. A celebration of compassion, hard-earned wisdom, and the joy we can create."
~Susan Henderson, The Flicker of Old Dreams
"What a brave and beautiful, heartbreaking, and cathartic novel. Prepare to fall in love with Boggio and Pearl’s young heroines, Grace and Maddie. So impeccably drawn that they jump off the page, you will be devastated by the all-too-real stories of their young lives. Fortunately, as in the best fiction, Hungry Shoes offers hope. This gritty, sublimely well-written novel holds a mirror up to our unfair world and gives us back reasons to believe the answers do exist, that justice is possible, and that, with the help of gifted professionals, broken lives can be mended."
~Bestselling author, Sarah Bird, Last Dance on the Starlight Pier
