num_pages: 192
description: 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.
language: English
title: The Red Shoe
titlecomplete: The Red Shoe
genres: Family, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult, Historical, Childrens, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Australia, School
ratings_count: 498
places: Sydney, New South Wales
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: New South Wales Premier's Literary Award
category: Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
publisher: Roaring Brook Press