The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan

A special thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Masha is drowning, figuratively speaking that is. Once a spirited and vibrant woman, she has been eclipsed by grief. Seeking solace in the silence, Masha frequents the local Victorian cemetery and the town pool where she punishes herself for her son's death in the freezing water.

But as she meets a cast of eccentrics—including Sally Red Shoes, a 70-something opera singer and the beautiful and wise Kitty Muriel—she begins to live again. The women change Masha's course by opening up a new world of possibilities. That is until the past comes back with a vengeance.

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is a poignant novel about death, resilience, and finding joy in the smallest things.

I had the sincerest pleasure of reviewing The Keeper of Lost Things and loved it! Hogan's a gifted author who writes with emotion and flair. In this story, Hogan draws on her own experience with cancer and treatment. She also explores friendship—between different generations and backgrounds—and the theme of drowning. In this novel, swimming serves a psychological purpose in that Masha uses it as a way to serve her penance. She swims underwater to the steps, holds the handrail and stays under until her lungs implode and she drowns...almost.

Masha is a character that lives a life of self-imposed emotional isolation. Her grief and the guilt over her son's death have become her dark companions, an addiction of sorts. There are some beautiful passages in the cemetery where she creates stories for those that are resting there. Gradually Masha surfaces both literally in the pool, and figuratively from her grief. It is then that her swimming becomes a joy rather than a punishment.

Thank you, Ruth Hogan, for this book. It is an incredibly moving story of grief, and of the resilience and beauty of the human spirit.

RUTH HOGAN was born in the house where her parents still live in Bedford, England. She was a veracious reader as a child and studied English at Uni.

Hogan lives in a Victorian house with her husband and an assortment of rescue dogs.