Read more
A multi-layered memoir of transformation, Out of My Shoes weaves together events from the life of the narrator who grew up during the 1940's and '50's in a sheltered Southern California environment. While attending Vassar College, Meredith marries an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy New York family. They move to Berkeley, where she becomes a traditional faculty wife and mother. Eventually, troubled by her life of privilege, she leaves her marriage to pursue her interests in photography, writing, and social activism. When she meets Jayda, a formerly homeless African-American woman poet, their complex relationship, with its racial and sensual tensions, is at the heart of this mid-life creative awakening. Issues of class and race are intertwined in compelling stories, both poignant and humorous, as the narrator struggles to find a new identity.
About the author
A long time resident of Berkeley, Meredith Stout is a writer, photographer, and political and social activist. In 2014, with two other authors, Meredith published A Basket of Words, an anthology of twenty years of writing together. She is currently preparing an audio version of Out of My Shoes, and is working on a new volume of stories about caring for aging parents. Now in her eighties, the author lives in North Berkeley with her daughter and two houseplants. Please visit www.meredithstout.com to learn more about her work.
