Set in Sydney, Australia, in the early 1950s, the memories and observa tions of three sisters, aged six, eleven, and fifteen, are interwoven with news paper clippings from the Sydney Morning Herald. The story depicts how the world events and issues impinge on their day-to-day lives. Their merchant marine father’s depression, their mother’s relationship with their musician uncle, Russian spies next door, polio epidemics, and various Sydney misad ventures and murders are all connected in this complex narrative. The sym bolic significance of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Red Shoe” builds as family secrets are revealed. Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, New South Wales State Literary Award, Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year. mjw

Originally published by Allen & Unwin Australia, in 2006.

Funny, tough-minded and tender, this is the story of Matilda and her two sisters growing up in Sydney, Australia, in the early 1950s. Their father is mentally unstable and largely absent, their mother is possibly in the thrall of his brother, and a headline-making Russian spy defection is taking place next door. Punctuated by the headlines of the times, The Red Shoe depicts how the large events of the world can impinge on ordinary lives. This is a novel to savor by one of Australia's most gifted writers for young people.