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The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes

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The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes

By: Ruth Hogan
Narrated by: Jane Collingwood, Esther Wane
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About this listen

Loved Ruth Hogan's The Keeper of Lost Things? Keep on reading....

Masha's life has stopped.

Once a spirited, independent woman with a rebellious streak, her life has been forever changed by a tragic event 12 years ago. Unable to let go of her grief, she finds solace in the silent company of the souls of her local Victorian cemetery and at the town's lido, where she seeks refuge underwater - safe from the noise and the pain.

But a chance encounter with two extraordinary women - the fabulous and wise Kitty Muriel, a convent girl-turned-magician's wife-turned-70-something-roller-disco-fanatic, and the mysterious Sally Red Shoes, a bag lady with a prodigious voice - opens up a new world of possibilities, and the chance to start living again. But just as Masha dares to imagine the future, the past comes roaring back....

Like her best-selling debut, The Keeper of Lost Things, Ruth Hogan's second novel introduces a cast of wonderful characters, both ordinary and charmingly eccentric, who guide us through a moving exploration of the simple human connections that make life worth living.

©2018 Ruth Hogan (P)2018 John Murray Press Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Tear-jerking Feel-Good Heartfelt

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Critic reviews

"This is the first book I read in 2017 - and if another as good comes along in the next 12 months, I'll eat my special gold reviewing spectacles." (Daily Mail)

"A gem." (Huffington Post)

"Exquisite." (The Lady)

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3.5 stars

I haven't read the author before, and intend to read her first shortly, so DID enjoy this enough to read more. There were a few thoughts I had as I listened where things grated on me, but overall, I found this moving, with a few shocking moments.

The majority of the story is Masha's, a woman who lost her child over a decade ago and has not been able to recover from the grief since. In a parallel narrative, Alice is almost smothering her own teenage son with love and going through her own difficulties. Masha meets two older women, the Sally Red Shoes of the title as well as the irrepressible 'free spirit' Kitty Muriel, who both may have some lessons to teach her form their own long lives.

I admit, I burst into noisy, messy tears while out jogging listening to this. Some moments were unbelievably heart-breaking. Listening to the scene in which Masha loses her little boy - very hard to picture and to read.

There are characters I liked as well - I understood Masha's pain, I enjoyed Kitty's open, loving nature.

But there were also aspects that exasperated - it's not usual to have two exemplars, two 'guardian angels' for a character to learn from, and I did feel at times that Sally didn't add that much to the story, that her story and character could have been subsumed into Kitty's or taken out, as Kitty was very much the stronger of the two.

It took me until nearly the end to understand the point of Alice and her story, again, it seemed extraneous, even as a counterpoint to Masha and her son's relationship, despite the moving story happening for Alice and her son Mattie. Though, this does change very suddenly at the end. And the end too, brings us up short, leaving no wind-down or epilogue, it's an unanticipatedly swift conclusion. And one that leaves many questions unanswered, and relies on coincidences.

On the whole, it's a bittersweet and uplifting story of a woman moving through the stages of grief, though the last few chapters psychologically pull some of that apart.

I hear wonderful things about Hogan's debut and I look forward to trying it, and I'll likely be listening to this as well.

This book made a very gratifying audio-read, with two voices provided for Alice and Masha, though I found initially that I wasn't always sure from the voice alone whose story I was listening to, and needed context from the text to clarify who it was that was speaking to me. Both were clear and smooth readers, but not different enough to be instantly recognisable. The story itself was easy enough to follow as an audiobook.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy, for an honest review.

Poignant narration on grief, friendship, courage

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I was waiting on a better ending to be honest. Took a few chapters to get into it and was confused often but the anticipated ending didn’t happen

Ending was a bit of a flop

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This is a beautiful story. kept me engaged all the way through and I did not see the denouement until the very end!

Ruth Hogan weaves words like honey.

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Although the synopsis mentions grief it is not explicit that the whole storyline is around death and grief of a child. Despite interesting characters and rich vocabulary I’d not have chosen this book if I’d known.

Synopsis should be a more explicit about content

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Beautiful and heartwarming, I didn't want it to finish although I was very happy at how it ended. Perfect summer listen.

I wanted more

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Loved this book, wonderful story and both narrators were a pleasure to listen to. Lots of gentle wisdom and observation from Ruth Hogan

Wonderful celebration of eccentricity and learning to love and live after tragedy

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I will miss the characters so beautifully depicted in this heartwarming novel. Ruth Hogan has again created the most beguiling collection of people - so credible and so distinct that I feel I know them. And amongst the humour and day to day occurrences is hidden a wealth of deep understanding of grief, relationships, coping, Victorian cemeteries and death rituals ... So that this story is so much more than it seems.

Utterly delightful!

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This book is veryunusual, and it takes time to appreciate. I kept listening, and it became very rewarding .if you like lots of action, then this book is not for you.

Well written, but took time to appreciate.

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I read ‘The Keeper Of Lost Things’ by Ruth Hogan & thought it was a wonderful story, so wanted to listen to this audiobook, because I was sure it would be great. I was not disappointed. It draws on a lot of emotions that create a roller coaster, through out the book. I recommend this book & I will be listening to further audiobooks by this author.

Another great story...

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This is my third Ruth Hogan read and perhaps it is not her best one - but I enjoyed it very much. I like her characters and situations. I like that characters from other books pop up too.
Some topics in this book are hard and sad...
Sometimes the situations are a bit far fetched....but that can be forgiven as the story is so good.
The epilogue made me cry...so beautifully written, so real.....beautiful

Emotional

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