This novel was intricately layered with emotion and tough subjects. Marsha struggled to find happiness after a tragedy took her young son from her. She only felt peace when walking through the cemetery or when she practiced drowning herself. The characters she meets along her journey further address the complexity of human emotions: mental illness, love, guilt, loss of identity, cancer. The list goes on.

Masha lost her only child Gabriel in a drowning accident more than a decade ago. She finds comfort when she visits her local Victorian cemetery regularly. It becomes part of her grieving process. This is where she meets Sally Red Shoes, a fascinating bag lady who has a love of birds and has lots of wisdom to impart.

Alice is the mom of a teenager and she is terminally ill with cancer.

I found the book boring more than anything else. The story did not interest me and the writing style fell flat for me. The ending was abrupt and felt rushed. I struggled to get through the book.

A beautiful story of love, loss, friendship and family. This is not only a story of a woman's grief but also of hope and laughter,

Wow! An absolute gem of a story. The cover, title and author all called my name when I saw this and was not disappointed. It’s a story of death, sickness, grief and guilt told with just enough humor thanks to 3 lovable, quirky women. It was slow going at first but the storytelling became very engaging and the prose kept me enchanted. I found myself pausing and reflecting on many occasions on the quiet bits of wisdom, of which there are many.
I would like to thank Net Gallery for an ARC of this novel and I’d especially like to thank the author Ruth Hogan for writing such a gem while fighting your own battle with cancer.

Who could guess that a baglady could bring such change to one's life? A thoughtful, surprisingly, richly peopled novel studded with poignant and captivating moments.

March 15, 2019
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.

I loved this book so much I immediately wanted to read it over again! This story was written to perfection from the opening line to the amazing ending. The language is beautiful, yet I found myself skipping over some of the poems and impressive vocabulary to race through the story! Another reason to read it again!

“Life is full of small joys if you know where to look for them.”

What I particularly loved about this book is there was intrigue and mystery from the very start. There was no dump of back-story to weigh it down, yet each concise chapter leaked another clue. It was very much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. And I LOVE jigsaw puzzles.

The introduction of the main characters in the opening chapters set the stage pretty quickly around graveyards, swimming pools, and the subject of drowning. Masha appears to be obsessed with them all. Masha spends a great deal of time wandering the graveyard with or without her dog Haizum, having conversations with the occupants of the various grave sites. She considers them ‘my Family on the Other Side.’

As the stories unfold for “Sally”, Masha, Alice, and Mattie, (in order of introduction) the theme of death, grief, and dark secrets begins to evolve.

“When the music ends for someone you love you don’t stop dancing. You dance for them as well.”

It was right around Chapter 50, I was lying in bed, my mind turning over the chapters I’d read the night before, when I had the AH HA moment!! So much for sleeping in!

At that point, I was excited to finish it, to see if I am right, and at the same time afraid I am! For the next couple of chapters, I convinced myself I was mistaken, but then another clue. Reading it on my Kindle, I was beginning to hyperventilate at the 95% mark. HOW was she going to finish this in so few pages? The ending was PERFECT!!!!! I couldn’t believe the beautiful way Ruth completed the story.

I laughed, I cried, I wondered, and I loved. All of the things a great read should do for you!

A story that makes you cry and them marvel at the human spirit ability to recover and move on. A story that explores death and grief and love and friendship. It took me a few chapters to get caught up in the story and understand the messages the author was sending but once I got it I could not put this down.

Kindle Copy from Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

A chance meeting starts a memorable friendship. A story of resilience among a group of meeting facing their immortality as it sweeps you on an unlikely journey.

Be swept up in the magic as the characters take you on a trip of a lifetime. Engaging read as well as the characters who come to light.

What a beautiful and emotional book this was for me. I too could have used the wisdom of Sally Red Shoes. I loved the quirky characters and empathized very much with Masha. I highly recommend this story to anyone who has experienced loss and grief. Let Sally Red Shoes come into your life. Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this book! The female characters were very strong and endured through hardships by finding each other. There was a point where I wondered if there was a deeper connection between Masha and Alice, and it ended up I was right. A beautiful ending of survival through friendship and love. I will definitely recommend this to others.

Dressed in an oversized, worn coat and wearing scuffed red Mary Jane shoes, an old woman visits the cemetery. She is eccentric. She smiles. She "enunciates her expletives beautifully". Soon she will leave the cemetery, bag of bread crumbs in hand, and feed the crows in the park. It appears that the cemetery is a place of comfort. For Masha, "the cemetery is [my] her sanctuary" as well.

Every week, Masha swims in the Charleston Lido Pool. Actually, she goes there to drown...almost. As a self-professed authority on drowning, she swims underwater and holds her breath as a means of "self-inflicted waterboarding". She is riddled with grief and guilt over the drowning death of her two year old son, Gabriel. While the cemetery is her sanctuary, the pool is her penance. For twelve years, Masha has been "...caught in a rip current of grief and struggling against it gets me nowhere". Haizum, her Irish Wolfhound, is her constant companion and lifeline, that is, until she crosses paths with the old woman that Masha will refer to as "Sally Red Shoes".

According to Sally, "Life is full of small joys if you know where to look for them...even in the darkest of times and places" "Her idiosyncrasies are strangely comforting". Surprisingly, Sally sings an aria in Italian to a group of Italian headstones while Haizum, the dog, tries to harmonize with her. Sally "...shouts and swears, sings to dead people...she is like a naughty best friend...". Is it possible for Masha to take small, forward moving steps to live life to the fullest instead of to just survive?

"The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes" by Ruth Hogan is a rollercoaster of a ride. "Grief is not a linear thing". Masha with Haizum in tow, visits the cemetery regularly finding some measure of peace spending time with the departed. She tends the graves of those who never receive visitors. The novel is not heavy-handed by any means. "Edith Piaf" is the name of Masha's green and white Citroen, a small French car with huge headlamps. There are many witty and laugh out loud passages. Ruth Hogan's sophomore novel is totally engaging. It is a heartfelt, emotional read. Despite the depths of despair, life can go on if you embrace it. An excellent read.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes".

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is a charming book about giving yourself a second chance. Masha has been mourning the death of her young son for over a decade, simply moving from one day to the next. She comes across an eccentric older woman in the cemetery (Sally Red Shoes) and begins thinking more about her own life and her impact on those around her. Together with an expanding, caring network, she begins the tentative steps of starting to live her life as Masha again, and not just Gabriel's mom.

Running parallel to Masha's story is a story about Alice and her son, Mattie. Hogan weaves this in as we follow Masha's journey. I would have liked to get a little more background on Alice and Sally in the book, especially Sally. However, I do understand that would have made the book quite long!

I also am not sure how I feel about the ending, but the overall message of the book will stay with me for a long time. I have not read Ruth Hogan's first novel, but will make that my goal over the next few months! (I would also love a sequel to this book to see where Masha goes!) Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of this book to review.
#TheWisdomOfSallyRedShoes #NetGalley

First of all, I love the cover! So lovely. I won't say that I didn't enjoy the book, I just think maybe I wasn't in the right place to read it right now. My favorite parts included the quirkiness of the characters and humor in such a dark storyline but I just can't move past the heaviness. Just because I wouldn't give this the highest rating, doesn't mean that I wouldn't read more for this author. I haven't finished 'The Keeper of Lost Things' but have really enjoyed it so far (it's just quite a drastic difference from this one.) As I said in the beginning of my review, I just don't think I was in the right mindset for this storyline!

There is no single genre into which this book will neatly fit. It is a feast of skilled observation and writing as varied as a smorgasbord. The primary course is as moving a portrait of loss and grief as I have ever read. However, Hogan crafts so many witty and clever descriptions and scenes that I laughed out loud many times, and even began marking passages to re-read or share later, only to realize that much of the book is now highlighted. The novel serves up an especially sweet and sensitive handling of people who are flawed and complicated, yet compelling, and worth trying to understand. The book covers the slow loss of control that aging or illness can effect. Finally, Hogan also manages to create an intriguing mystery with red herrings, plot twists, and an utterly satisfying conclusion which ties all the threads together. The unusual cast of characters is carefully and slowly revealed. Likewise the storyline, told from shifting viewpoints, moves inexorably toward the delicious resolution. Five oh-so-delectable stars from me.

I don't think I was in the right place to read this book. Death and mourning are not something I care to read at this time. I loved Ruth Hogan's first novel and maybe later I will read this one again and like it.

THE WISDOM OF SALLY RED SHOES – Ruth Hogan
Fiction

England – Present Day

Masha (her nickname) has spent the past twelve years grieving the loss of her child to drowning. Each day she treks to the outdoor pool in town and “drowns”, or attempts to, at least. And each day she climbs out of the pool and goes home to her dog, and on to work as a psychologist. Masha has become an authority on drowning, researching the topic, and has also chosen to read every book on death that she can find in the local used bookstore. For Masha, the only reason for living these days is her dog, her wolfhound Haizum. Losing her child effectively ended her normal life, and these days Masha drifts through each day, trying not to look in the nursery, and walking with Haizum in the cemetery where she is an expert on all of the tombstones. She even dreams up stories about the inhabitant of each grave. And it’s there that she sees Sally Red Shoes feeding the crows.

Sally Red Shoes is not her real name, it’s the name Masha has given her because the elderly lady wears red Mary Janes. When talking to Sally, Masha is constantly surprised at the seemingly mild mannered woman’s racy vocabulary. Sally feeds the crows breadcrumbs every day, swearing like a sailor, but obviously not meaning anything by it. As Masha comes to know Sally, she realizes that this woman is far from crazy, and is warmed by her very honest advice.

In a town not far away, Alice and her son Mattie live alone. Alice is overly protective of her son and Mattie is starting to resent it. Every day she prepares his supper and stands at the window waiting for him to walk up the street after school. Her whole world revolves around Mattie. Alice is certain there are no secrets between them. But lately he has not been sweet, lovable Mattie. There is a tension between them, although at times he reverts back to his old self. Alice just wants everything to be normal and wants Mattie to love her.

THE WISDOM OF SALLY RED SHOES is extremely emotional in so many ways. It’s also thought provoking, humorous, and poignant. Masha is trying very hard to overcome her long depression. She has lovely friends, elderly, caring parents, and a longing for normalcy. But she is probably more normal than she gives herself credit for. Alice is a woman with low esteem and doesn’t know how to handle difficult situations, especially when it comes to Mattie. And Sally Red Shoes is a lovable curmudgeon who helps change Masha’s outlook.

There is plenty of sadness in this novel, but it’s interspersed with some downright hilarious scenes. One chapter, in particular, is a dinner party that Masha attends where one guest brings out the best and the worst in everyone else. I highly recommend this wonderful book. It’s beautifully written and a tribute to the human soul.

This is an incredibly sweet book and a very poignant study of cancer and its effects. It's well written, and also surprisingly optimistic and light hearted in parts, despite the heavy subject matter.
Ruth Hogan has done a lovely job with this, and the cover design is beautiful.

Round up to 4 1/2 stars...
Ruth Hogan's second book is, once again, filled with delightful and unique characters, a really good story line, and hours of satisfying reading. Getting to know everyone - including Haizum the dog - was a pleasure. I'm so sorry to see the story end, even though I pretty much saw what was coming... I think it's a tribute to how much I love Hogan's writing style, that I read not only the epilogue (well, who doesn't?) but the acknowledgments too.

Hogan definitely goes on the favorite author list for this reader.

A very brave book about death and about cancer written by Ruth Hogan when she was herself undergoing treatment for cancer. However do not for one moment think that it is a "difficult" or sad book. The sad is outweighed by the optimistic and the good, and there are many light hearted moments.

This is my second book by this author and she has a very recognisable and descriptive style. Sometimes nothing happens for pages but the content of those pages is pure reading pleasure. Her characters are fun too, always a touch quirky and very entertaining. I particularly liked Edward and thought it was a nice touch to give him a special role in Gabriel's life.

All in all I loved 'The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes' so why I am I not giving it five stars? The answer to that is the way the book ends. Read it and see what you think!

I'm not sure why, but I couldn't get into this book. Perhaps its because I read it right after finishing Mitch Alboms First Phone Call From Heaven and i wasn't in the right mind set.

I finished, but plan to reread it in a few months to give it a fair shot.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.