From MAGPIES May 2006 

THE RED SHOE

Ursula Dubosarsky, Allen and Unwin, 1 74114 285 7 $19.95

…Articles from contemporary Sydney newspapers provide the volatile Cold War background, giving the story a feeling of historical veracity. The eponymous red shoes are the symbols that link Hans Christian Andersen’s cruel folk tale, Mrs Evdokia Petrov’s red shoe discarded on the airport tarmac, and Matilda’s mother’s shoe, lost during the event that triggers the family meltdown. Real events meld with the fictitious and the reader draws parallels between political and family events 

There is a pervading feel of impending disaster and the denouement is quite shocking, totally focussing the reader on events hinted at earlier. This novel cleverly weaves family tragedies and contemporary events into a compelling tale of a family struggling to cope and alienated from normal social interactions by circumstance. The writing is so original and vivid that the reader is drawn right into Matilda’s world. 

Helen Purdie