Girl Power

Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes is a powerful contemporary novel that I just could not put down.

The novel is about riches. We see the values that different characters have. The poorest people are those who value power, status and possessions, who don’t care who they trample on in order to get to the top.

In contrast, the richest people are those who invest in others. People are priceless. We witness some beautiful friendships between people who are materially poor but have the hugest hearts. A character lends another £20, making the difference between sinking or swimming. This reminded me of the widow’s mitre in the Bible.

The women in the story are all a blend of strong yet weak. As their friendships develop, they use their talents and skillsets to help and encourage each other. Alone they are weak, together they are strong.

We see the male characters who are paralysed by trying to do it alone. One is blinded by greed. Another is carrying a terrible burden of guilt, grief and hurt. It breaks the reader’s heart as we hear of the source of this pain.

There are also men with kind hearts. They share what they can and they treat everyone as royalty. We see good hearts in hard working people.

Throughout there is the motif of shoes. Shoes give us confidence, comfort, compassion. Our shoes ‘speak’ to others as they make judgment calls based on our footwear.

I always love Jojo Moyes novels and absolutely adored Someone Else’s Shoes. There was a rich diversity of characters, most of whom were wonderful with huge hearts – and the others, we were not meant to like!

The story is told from alternating points of view, enabling the reader to see the hearts of the characters.

Someone Else’s Shoes was another marvellous offering from Jojo Moyes.

JULIA WILSON