I really enjoyed this book, although I expected it to be much more light hearted than it was. The main character is Genevieve Shelby King, an Aristocratic English beauty, who has moved to Paris with her rich American husband. Genevieve is obsessed with shoes, and has over 500 pairs (and the descriptions of shoes in this book are so intricate and lovely that I wanted to go and buy lots of shoes at once)! She also has a rich and devoted husband, a beautiful apartment and a hectic social life, with her best friend Lulu, a popular bohemian singer. But when Genevieve spots the most beautiful shoes she has ever seen on one of her society rivals, she becomes obsessed with getting a pair of shoes for herself, by the man who made them, Paulo Zachari. Zachari is famous for picking his customers, rather the other way around, and he is very discerning about who he will make shoes for. Genevieve becomes obsessed with the shoes, and subsequently, with Zachari himself. She becomes miserable in spite of her happy life, and is forced to confront a painful memory of her past, and try to find out why her life feels so empty.
Genevieve is a well rounded character, and although she sometimes did things which seemed unreasonable or unkind, it was easy to see her reasons for doing so. I also thought Zachari was a well drawn character.
However, one of the things I liked the most about the book was it’s colourful descriptions of society life in 1920s Paris – it made me wish I could have been a fly on the wall.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book – even if it did make me want to go out and buy a lot of shoes! With a bit more substance to it than a lot of chick-lit, this is recommended.
(Author’s website can be found here.)
I just finished reading "The Perfect Fit" by Meghan Cleary who isthe Shoe Guru for HSN. Your shoe book is very intriguing andI think I'll be reading that one next! Thanks for the Pick! Terry