The Shoe Queen

I'm a fashion student so I'm sucker for anything Paris related. I'm also fasinated by the 20's so this book peeked my interest from the beginning! And, okay the cover is pretty :) I wasn't expecting much but it drew me in instantly and I couldn't put it down until I finished! It turned out to be more than book about a women who loves shoes. It's also about love, lies, betrayal, and all that other good stuff! The descriptions of Paris (and most importantly the shoes!) are amazing. However parts of the book have a lot of hard to pronounce French words that make it hard for non-french speakers to imagine when you don't even know what they mean. Other than that, for the rest of the book you can easily imagine yourself in Paris along side Genevive, going to all the lavish parties, and wearing your own pair of Paolo Zacharis! ... Or at least you wish you were :) Great book!

I was in between books and looking for something light and entertaining to read while on a recent trip. I found this book to be delightful! The plot delivered some surprises that kept me turning the pages to find out what the characters did next. ENJOY!

This book is no piece of beautiful, impressive literature but it is entertaining, fun, and light. As soon as I started reading, I plopped myself down on the couch and spent the whole afternoon there, until I was done reading. As an Imelda myself, I reveled in the descriptions of all the beautiful shoes that Genevieve, the main character, collected. (If only I could have my own shoe room filled with 532 pairs of shoes!) The descriptions of Paris in the 1920s are lively, enjoyable, and easy to imagine. Any reader (especially a female shoe-lover or anyone who is interested in Bohemian Paris) would love this book. Everything seems beautiful and fun, sentiments that prevail throughout the entire book. I am so glad I was lucky enough to randomly pick this book off the shelf. It was a great, fun read, perfect for summer!

In 1925 Paris, newly married to Robert of Boston, Genevieve Shelby King knows the importance of chic shoes. She aspires to always have the best looking pair on her feet. Her biggest rival in the shoe competition is Violet de Fremont as the pair are the superpower adversaries in the shoe war. At a literary gathering, wannabe poetess Genevieve and her best friend Lulu spot Violet's latest and though the current shoe queen critiques her opponent's latest as being ancient history, she knows she has fell a shoe size behind her enemy. Desperate, she turns to the immortal designer Paolo Zachari to make her a special pair; he refuses telling her he is not interested in the crass money of her Brahmin Bostonian boogieman spouse. As Genevieve tries to persuade the king of shoe designing to help her keep her mantle, Robert knows his wife hides something critical from him and he vows to learn what that is. THE SHOE QUEEN is a discerning keen satirical look at 1920s Bohemia Paris mostly through the eyes (and feet) of Genevieve. The story line lampoons the post WWI life of the Left Banke artistic community that uses the inane to forget the recent atrocities of the war to end all wars. Anna Davis provides an insightful glimpse as this tale is much more than just an aspiring poetess trying to keep her crown as THE SHOE QUEEN; Anna Davis opens the window to the since romanticized 1920s bohemian subculture. Harriet Klausner

It almost felt like I was there....some parts took a while to build, but overall I was entranced by the Bohemian theme of Paris. More than just a story about shoes, the Shoe Queen focuses on the Bohemian principles of Truth, Beauty, Faith, and Love. This is truly a story about a woman who is seraching for her meaning of existence and tells her stroy through her shoes. Must read for summer!