BEST BOOK CHOICES OF THE YEAR 2006

“Ignore Ursula Dubosarsky and you miss one of the most original writers of our time: The Red Shoe weaves fable, fiction and fact to portray a family and plays upon the climate of fear that defined the Cold War Era.”       

 Mike Shuttleworth, Australian Centre for Youth Literature

“The Red Shoe and Theodora’s Gift have been winning every award going in Australia this year. Deservedly. Dubosarsky is the author of more than twenty books for children and young adults. She is a flawless writer whose mastery of storytelling leaves me breathless. I wish I could write like that! She’s not nearly as well-known outside Australia as she deserves to be. You must track down her books.”                    

Justin Larbalestier, novelist

“Ursula Dubosarsky's previous book Theodora's Gift, won a series of awards this year and so one wonders where next for her because The Red Shoe is even better (and has already picked up the Queensland Premier's Award). The fairytale “The Red Shoes”, the Petrov affair, the continuing aftershocks of a world war: these are all delicately overlaid on to a story about a family threatened by barely acknowledged pressures and where the connection between private suffering and public scandal and humiliation is subtly yet powerfully asserted. Dubosarsky's characters, especially the children, are compelling: familiar and innocent yet also intense, distant and disturbed, seeing both too much yet not quite enough about themselves and the world.”  

Debra Adelaide, novelist and critic The Australian

“The Red Shoe melds the Petrov Affair, a fairy tale and the effects of postwar dislocation on a family into a wry, moving and shocking story told by a naïve yet knowing child, in spare and evocative language.”

Pam Macintyre, critic Viewpoint

“Space is so tight that for a book to make its home in my overcrowded bookshelf it must possess the qualities of eternal pleasure. Richly textured and subtly written, The Red Shoe  is an evocative picture of a 1950s family with enough secrets and layers to compel over multiple readings.”

Jodie Minus, critic The Australian