“I think every book I write is for that girl I was,” Gephart said. She found solace at her neighborhood branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Growing up in Philadelphia with divorced parents and a busy working Mom, Gephart was often lonely. “While they seem so different at first, the two are perfect together to help each other navigate loss,” Gephart said. And Amy’s penchant for appreciating life and living in the present helps quell Miles’ fears and worries. Living above her uncle’s somber funeral home, Amy is filled up by the sounds and lights and love at Miles’ family’s bowling center. In “In Your Shoes,” Amy and Miles don’t realize it when they first meet, but they are exactly what the other needs to help overcome their challenges and provide what they need to thrive. There will be sandwiches, drinks, bowling with prizes and a short reading. Wednesday at The Book Cellar, 801 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. The launch party for her newly released book takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. “I’m so glad I put in the time and sweat equity because I couldn’t be happier with the finished book.” “At one point, I threw out the entire 200-page book I’d written even after I’d gotten revision notes from my editor and started over, struggling to create on the page what I envisioned in my mind,” said Gephart, an award-winning middle-grade novelist. She had an ambitious vision of what she wanted to do with it - a story within a story, a science-loving, snarky intrusive narrator and a tale told from two distinct points of view that chronicle the grieving process and how friends and family can help get you through the hardest things. For Jupiter author Donna Gephart, “In Your Shoes” was the most difficult of her six books to write.

In Your Shoes by Donna Gephart