Product Description

The earth smelt strong to Matilda and full of things growing and dying all at the same time. She thought about the grey-green tangled bush at the end of her street, full of cowboys and Red Indians, waiting with their guns and their bows and arrows. She thought about the Japs and the Germans and the shining sword and chocolate biscuits, and the Argonauts sailing across the ocean, and the silver trail of snails on cardboard. She thought about the princess in the film, 'How do you do, so glad you could come, how do you do' and the wonderful butterfly bathroom and poor little Karen and her beautiful red shoes. She thought about the sad smiling man with his chess set and the newsreel and her tennis ball, up and up and up in the air, high as the tallest tree in the Basin, and Uncle Paul with his hands in his pockets, and her mother's red shoe falling down down down into the deep green bush for ever. Funny, tough-minded and tender, this is the story of Matilda and her two sisters growing up in Sydney in the 1950s at the time of the Petrov Affair. Punctuated by the headlines of the time, it shows with unsettling clarity how the large events of the world can impinge on ordinary lives. 'When Ursula Dubosarsky writes, the ordinary becomes fascinating: every small and unremarkable thing is imbued with the sweetest, softest charm. Reading her novels is like walking through a dream: you know you're not allowed to stay, but you don't want to leave it, and when it's gone, you can't stop thinking about it. In this beautiful story, Dubosarsky proves yet again that she is the most graceful, most original writer for young people in Australia - probably in the world.' Sonya Hartnett I always want to spend more time with Ursula Dubosarsky's people. They are wise, awkward and funny, and they give off sparks of insight that I want to read aloud to whoever's near ...The Red Shoe says all sorts of juicy things about how history is laid down one sleepy afternoon, one conversation, one crisis at a time.' Margo Lanagan Her books, let us make no mistake about this, are classics.' Robyn Sheahan-Bright

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1204512 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—This novel set in Sydney, Australia in the Cold War era interweaves actual newspaper accounts of a Russian diplomat's 1954 defection with the day-to-day affairs of a local family with three sisters and a father away on military duty much of the time. Focusing mostly on the fascinations and fancies of six-year-old Matilda, the tale follows her observations of the strange men who have guns and fast, shiny black cars staying at the big house next door. When she sees one of those men in a newsreel about the Russian who defected amidst controversy about the fate of his wife, she lets slip to their other neighbor, a crazy old man with his own gun, that spies live on the other side of her, leading to some action, which is in rather short supply here. A family drama evolves piecemeal in flashbacks to a beach picnic at which the father, continuing to be distraught in the aftermath of World War II, attempts to hang himself while his brother looks on immobile. While key characters are young people, even their dramas of pet parades and teenage nervous breakdowns are unlikely to interest American readers. Even incidents involving Matilda's imaginary companion are strangely flat and unappealing. This plot and its characters won't motivate most children to follow the slow story to its happy conclusion.—Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA
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Review
'When Ursula Dubosarsky writes, the ordinary becomes fascinating: every small and unremarkable thing is imbued with the sweetest, softest charm. Reading her novels is like walking through a dream: you know you're not allowed to stay, but you don't want to leave it, and when it's gone, you can't stop thinking about it. In this beautiful story of three sisters each finding their way through a strange time, Dubosarsky proves yet again that she is the most graceful, most original writer for young people in Australia - probably in the world.'- Sonya Hartnett

Publishers Weekly March 26 2007
*Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Australian author Dubosarsky (Theodora's gift) eloquently conveys the observations and memories of three sisters--the youngest, Matilda; middle-child Frances, 11; and 15-year-old Elizabeth--living in uncertain times...Dubosarsky proves masterful in conjuring and connecting images.