People We Love by Jenny Harper

 

Much overdone. Clichéd. Stereotypical. Boring. The perennial love affair of women with shoes has long been a topic in fiction. When JK Rowling guest edited Woman’s Hour last year, one of the topics was ‘The Myth and Power of Shoes’ One editor turned down People We Love because she felt that ‘shoes have been done to death in women’s fiction’. Well … maybe. But I wonder if she’d even read the opening chapters? Because if I were asked what People We Love is about, I might say ‘dealing with grief’, I might say ‘friendship’ or, indeed, ‘a love triangle’. I might say it deals with difficult issues such as dementia, and I might talk about why my heroine, Lexie Gordon, loves vintage so much. (It’s not just a style thing, nor just an urge to be thrifty – she loves the feeling that the previous wearer has left something of their own spirit in the garments.) I might, indeed, talk about shoes – but only because, as the invitation to Lexie’s art exhibition at the opening of the book says, ‘Shoes tell stories. Stories of tiny, much-loved babies who can’t even walk, of the tottering steps of little children towards adulthood, of special events in our lives, of dances, and marriages and mountain climbs and escapes.’ So yes, my new novel does feature shoes. In fact, there’s a catalogue entry at the start of each chapter that features just about every kind of shoe from baby’s bootees to clown shoes, from the white clogs worn by a surgeon during operations to the serviceable old Clark’s shoes her father wears as he soldiers on through life. And it does feature a pair of Manolo Blahniks. But it’s not about shoes. If you want to discover why the Manolo’s are important… sorry, you’ll have to read the book for yourself.  

 
Jenny Harper lives in Edinburgh. She is the author of four books about Scotland and Scottish culture, a history of childbirth, and The Sleeping Train for young readers. When she isn't writing, she enjoys walking in the Scottish countryside or anywhere warm, and travelling to Europe, America and India.

 
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