I was looking forward to this second novel by Ruth, and it didn’t disappoint. A more intense story this time, dealing with deeper subjects.

But yet again, a great book. It has a warmth to it, despite dealing with cancer, the death of a child and lots of other things that life throws at you.

Very much in the genre of Eleanor Oliphant, and A Man Called Ove. In summary, it has a lot of life and love in it.

It made me smile, think and ponder.
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I enjoyed The keeper of Lost things so much I was a little worried that Ruth Hogans 2nd book would fall short - it most definitely did not.
It is a glorious book with wonderful characters that touch your heart and make you cry and laugh and get totally involved in their lives.
An absolute must read

Adding this to the list of books that left me sobbing!! And I wasn't expecting that from this book going in! Having loved The Keeper of Lost Things I have been eager to read this, and a little scared too, but my fears were soon put to rest with another stunning book from Ruth Hogan that just captures human emotions in such astonishing detail.The striking start so beautifully staged had me hooked immediately.

It's the story of 2 women - both suffering at what life has thrown their way, but both surviving.... just. Masha is living with loss. A huge tragedy changed her life 12 years ago, and now she finds peace by hanging out at the local cemetery, and counts those departed as her friends alongside the character of Sally who is always there feeding the crows. She imagines their lost lives with clarity, and when she's not there she is at the local Lido, practicing drowning.

Alice is a single mother and dealing with a son growing up and all that brings with it. She is trying her best but life is throwing curve balls her way too and she is consumed by worries for life for her son Mattie and what will happen to him in the future.

This book looks long and hard about our attitudes to death, grieving and how that has changed over the years. The author wasn't afraid of confronting the subject head on, and introduced some lovely characters along the way to help those grieving make sense of the world again and deal with their losses. Sometimes help comes from those we expect it from less.

And two quotes stuck with me....

'Life is full of small joys if you know where to look for them'

'I find the living far more alarming'

At times this was heartbreaking - hence the tears as i read! - but it was also full of so much joy and inspiration that these characters become part of you and you end up cheering every positive step they take, alongside sobbing along with them when things all become too much. Wonderful!!

What a beautiful book. There were some real laugh out loud one liners in it, alongside deep sadness too. The author brought real life into this book. I loved how one of the characters would go and talk to residents of ‘God’s Acre’. Don’t we all talk to loved ones that have gone? Sally Red Shoes, whilst having the title role of the book, for me, was an ethereal person in the background - dispensing her wisdom and philosophy.
The whole.book, both sad and happy parts, are just so moving. If you’ve never been in a position of losing a child or suffering a devastating illness, this story will still make you feel that pain. There’s every feeling in this book; including the unconditional love of animals.
The ending of the book was a surprise. Not a scenario that I’d even considered and was set out, again, with a real feeling of poignancy and yet a hope of things to come. Just lovely.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions. It was very entertaining even when dealing with circumstances that we experience in every day life. I was not familiar with this author before reading The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes but I will certainly look out for her future and past books. I enjoyed it so much I have started reading it again.

Thanks to netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. Rather than regurgitate the plot, I just want to focus on how it made me feel. A simple story about love, loss and mourning which I could totally connect with. Grief is a hard subject to write about but I feel that the author did this with care, understanding and empathy. I very much enjoyed this book and really look forward to more from Ruth in the future.

What an absolute joy this book was!

This book will hold you in thrall right from the first page.  Narrated from the point of view of Masha and also Alice, you sense really early that Alice plays a pivotal role in Masha’s life.

Masha lost her son many years ago. She believes he drowned. She is a wonderfully complex character who I loved instantly. She frequents her local cemetery and tends to the graves of many people. She encounters a wonderfully eccentric woman, whom she dubs Sally, and this character adds a lovely layer of depth to the unfolding story.

Masha life is shrouded in grief. The loss of her young son has left a void in her life and the lives of those closest to her. The love that Masha had for her son has been transferred to her beloved Wolfhound, Haizum. The dog’s character is every bit as lovable as Masha.

The book deals with grief and how it engulfs people. It also deals with cancer. We discover Alice has cancer and her life seems to unravel because of this illness. The secret that Alice has been keeping for many years spills out towards the end of the book. The author draws us into Alice’s world by writing about how cancer is sucking the life out of her and exposing her secrets.

The characters in this book are colourful and they invite you into the story. Kitty Muriel is adorable. Elvis comes alive, having first being presented as just another eccentric. Masha’s friendship with both Sally and Kitty Muriel feels so vibrant and exciting. These two ladies offer Masha so much love and hope and those feelings jump out of the book and envelope the reader with the warmth that is being evoked within the story.

I am not writing anything about the plot because I want you to go and read this book and allow yourself to be drawn into the story. Every aspect of the story has such a colourful depth to it and to disclose any details would distract from the enjoyment you will feel once you read this book for yourself.

I loved everything about this book, from start to finish. I highly recommend it and give it a resounding five plus stars!!!

I appreciated this book, it was beautifully written and cleverly crafted, however, I wasn’t clamouring to get back to it, I didn’t feel I had to put things on hold so that I could hide away and read it. I really, really wanted to like this book - I’d put it to the bottom of my pile so it would be a real treat when I finally got to it but, in the end, it just didn’t do it for me I’m afraid.

In the acknowledgement Ruth Hogan quotes Dolly Parton stating ‘if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain’, I think that, in a nutshell was my problem - too much rain and not enough rainbow. It was clear fairly early on in the piece where the storylines of Marsha and Alice were going to intertwine and that was the storyline I was waiting for but that storyline never got going it ended before it even started.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've been mulling over how to write this review for quite a while as, sadly, Sally Red Shoes just was not for me.
I loved The Keeper of Lost Things which made my apathy towards this book all the more painful.
I will certainly keep an eye out for more from this author but I cannot recommend this book.

Yes, as any blurb or review will immediately alert you, The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is a novel about death. Large portions of the story take place in a Victorian cemetery, main character Masha’s grief is raw and deep, and the very details of death (and how we deal with it today compared to generations past) are examined in depth. But through its plot and eccentric cast of characters (keep an eye out for Kitty Muriel and Sally Red Shoes), The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes also tells a story about the joy of life, and the wonder of living, even – and maybe especially – in the face of terrible grief.

Entrancing, magical and life-affirming - despite dealing with death, cancer and loss this is joyous,. Ruth Hogan is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. She tells the story of a woman who lost her child and couldn't move on until she met some very unlikely characters who would be dismissed out of hand as barking by most people. Read this to feel uplifted and feel a smile grow on your face, despite some real anguish.

Ruth Hogan’s debut novel, The Keeper of Lost Things was a huge hit last year and received plenty of attention when it was included in The Richard and Judy Book Club. I loved the book and told so many people about it. I was very excited to be contacted about the author’s latest book, The Wisdom of Sally’s Red Shoes but also a little anxious in case it didn’t live up to expectations. I needn’t have worried as it is brilliant and once again showcases Ruth Hogan’s beautiful talent as a writer.
The book focuses on Masha who has suffered a tragedy over 12 years ago. She is still getting by day by day yet she is merely coping rather than actually living. She spends a lot of time in her local Victorian Cemetery and also at the local lido. Then she meets Kitty Muriel and Sally, both of these women are extraordinary in their own way. They make Masha take a step back and look at her life and maybe start hoping and living again.
Ruth Hogan is the Queen of eccentric characters; The Wisdom of Sally’s Red Shoes has many memorable and quirky characters, you cannot fail to remember them long after the last page. I loved all of the details about the cemetery and the way they dealt with mourning. Hogan demonstrates how there is no right or wrong way, Masha is the only one who can control her grief, the only one who can start living again and embracing the future. She just needs that spark and Kitty and Sally may be the ones to provide it.
If you haven’t ready anything by Ruth Hogan yet then I urge you to get her books. Her writing is beautiful, raw and poignant and this one has a cover just as stunning as her debut!

I absolutely loved Ruth Hogan's Keeper of Lost Things but found this book so very much harder to get into. It's initially disconcerting having three different narratives and it was quite confusing at first. Eventually it did become easier and I did enjoy some laugh out loud moments but there were many that made me feel sad and brought me to tears. I am glad that I stuck with it though and did enjoy it but wouldn't read it again.

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is the second novel by Ruth Hogan. With the author’s first novel The Keeper of Lost Things being such a well-received and heart-warming narrative, could Ruth pull another successful ‘up-lit’ out of the bag. Read on to find out!

Nicknamed Masha after Chekov’s character in The Seagull, twelve years after her young son (Gabriel) drowned, the protagonist is still in mourning and unable to move on with her own life. A frequent visitor to the cemetery, in particular the children’s section, Masha meets Sally Red Shoes a bag lady who goes to the cemetery to feed the birds, and the vivacious Kitty Muriel. As the friendships develop and the events surrounding Gabriel’s death are unveiled, Masha realises she isn’t the only one with a tragic past.

Masha is also a regular visistor the local lido where she carries out regular ‘drowning sessions’ to punish herself, but with Sally and Kitty taking on the role of cupid maybe it’s time for Masha to put the past behind her and rebuild her life. But just as she starts to accept what happened in the past, her life is about to take her on a completely unexpected path.

Starting with an omniscient third-person narrative that introduces Sally Red Shoes, the novel continues with a multi-faceted perspective. Masha’s story is in first-person; this runs in tandem with Alice’s story which has a limited third-person point-of-view. Not only does this writing style showcase the author’s ability to write from a multitude of narrative perspectives, it also leaves the reader in no doubt as to whom the protagonist is.

Alice is a lonely single mother whose life revolves around her son, Mattie. Alice has had a tragic past with a history of miscarriage, still birth, and Mattie’s father leaving her. Her story appears to be quite separate from Masha’s but as the narrative strands converge the story really kicks up a gear and this is where I found myself turning the pages unable to put the book down.

Although this is a sad story and largely set in a cemetery, the theme of death is offset by the themes of friendship and making the most out of life. The narrative is also full of hilarious analogy and there are quite a few laugh out loud moments.

I would recommend this book for anybody who likes Kit de Waal or Emma Cooper.

Under Literature Love’s rating scheme this book has been awarded 4 out of 5 stars.

I struggled with this book. The main character is dealing with the loss of her child several years before and the book seems to dwell on this without going anywhere. Really didn't enjoy it.

Oh, Ruth Hogan has done it again. #SallyRedShoes has completely stolen my heart. Absolutely on my Books of the Year 2018 list. Gentle, quirky, hopeful. So clever, so beautiful. LOVED it.

One woman is coming alive, another is dying …

Masha goes to the swimming pool to alleviate the pain of her grief and usually finds some kind of solace on taking herself to the edge of drowning. Actually it’s her dog Haizum that saves her life every day, creating a daily routine of needs and comforts, and the inspiration to get up each day. She loves to take Haizum (we find out why her beloved dog is called this later) to the Victorian cemetery, walking amongst the angelic headstones and communing with the dead. Masha knows a lot about the history of death and dying rituals.

“But grief is not a linear thing. It re-boots unexpectedly at a certain smell or sight or sound …”

A lot of Masha’s story is about death – cemetery dog walks, cemetery tea parties, reading books about death, her goal to be a cemetery tour guide, her Family in the Other Side, and dwelling on her loss of Gabriel – so be prepared. Having said that, this is a powerful story about coming alive, waking up.

It’s at the cemetery that she meets Sally red shoes and her ‘uncomplicated capacity for happiness’. Sally red shoes is like a gateway for Masha. Without the bouts of wisdom from Sally, Masha would never have been so star struck and inviting of Kitty Muriel. As a reader I adore Kitty. Colour, exuberance, roller-disco, red nail polish … glamour and total personification of “This is me.” Kitty completes the coming alive process for Masha.

However, interwoven through the chapters of a changing Masha, is the story of Alice. Alice is struggling each day to be the mother she needs to be to Mattie, and Mattie is scared because his mother is dying. I like the way that the author has placed life and death so closely together, putting death back into daily vocabulary and enlightening readers with its ritual and reinvention.

Ruth Hogan depicts Masha’s life with grace, eloquence, melancholy and this elegant writing is even more exquisite than in The Keeper of Lost Things.

Themes: Life, death and ritual, cemeteries, swimming, infantile death, grief, loss, live, trust, friendship, support, cancer

I highly recommend this second novel from Ruth Hogan. It is an amazing piece of artistry. Thanks to John Murray Press and Netgalley for my ARC.

Thank you for this ARC and thank you to the author for a book that has restored my faith in the potential for beautifully written narratives. This novel's foundations are built upon loss and grief but ends up being so much more. Her characters are fully fleshed and whilst suffering are still full of life. Far from being a sad, tragedian read I felt the book emphasised the power of love, friends and family. More than anything else it illustrates the the power of the mind to trick and deceiver decide to rebuild and re-emerge. It has so much that it is difficult to pull out the individual highlights but i thought the near-drowning a very powerful way to depict the overwhelming sense of loss. I loved the ending which didn't try to come up smelling of roses but left me with a tangible feeling of there being a further path to travel

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2018/07/07/the-wisdom-of-sally-red-shoes-by-ruth-hogan/
The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is another book that’s slightly out of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed the Keeper of Lost Things last year and so decided to give this one a shot. There’s no elements of fantasy in this at all. It’s a story of loss, guilt, redemption and it has a strong thread of hope in terms of self forgiveness and allowing yourself to live on after terrible events have created sadness and loss.

The story revolves around a central character called Masha. You can feel Masha’s overwhelming sadness even though at this point you’re unclear as to what is the cause. Hogan writes emotions so well. It feels like Masha is drowning in despair and guilt and her feelings very much flood over into the lives of her surrounding friends and family causing them too to suffer alongside her. It’s like Masha feels too guilty to live and in some respects almost pushes herself to the brink. But, before I make this sound too overwhelming, things begin to slowly change in the subtlest ways. Primarily with the introduction of new friends into Masha’s life, friends who she can open up to finally and actually begin to forgive herself and allow her own life to continue. I suppose there’s something about sharing stories and in doing so lightening the load.

I don’t really need to say too much about the plot. This isn’t a convoluted story and I don’t want to give too much away. There is a side plot to the story that introduces a mysterious element to the tale To be honest, I’m not totally sure this element was really necessary although I can see why the author would wish to include it.

I liked Masha. She has a lovely family and friends although in her presence they’re all on pins a little, like they’re afraid to laugh in case it breaks her somehow or they simply don’t know how to handle the situation. I guess grief brings out the awkwardness. I really enjoyed watching Masha go through a kind of metamorphosis and finally allow herself to begin feeling again.

The story is full of quirky and eccentric characters, the writing is accomplished and the settings veer between social events that Masha is strong armed into attending, her time spent at the local lido which is at once where she tortures herself with memories and also the place where she finally learns to live again, and the cemetery. I loved Masha’s time spent in the cemetery with her large hairy hound. I find cemeteries quite fascinating to be honest so I loved this aspect to the story, almost like I’d found a like minded character.

In terms of criticisms. Like I mentioned, I really don’t think the parallel plot was necessary. I think the story could have stood on it’s own two feet as it was – a story of loss and redemption, the additional element felt a little sensational and, to be honest, a tiny bit predictable. It didn’t spoil the story for me but even now, having sat on this review, I still don’t feel like it was needed.

On the whole, and personal preferences to one side, this is a lovely read. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Hogan’s first work but I still think it was a quick and easy read and managed to really pack emotion into the tale.

As I mentioned, this isn’t my usual type of novel but if you want something charming quirky and hopeful this could make a very enjoyable summer read.

I received a copy from the publisher, courtesy of Netgalley, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I don't know what I was expecting with this novel, but I am so glad that I requested it, but I cannot believe it took me a while to get around to reading it. Overall I thought that this was an amazingly well-written novel that dealt with tough subjects such as death and illness, once I had gotten my teeth into this novel it was tough to stop reading. The characters seemed so real to me and well crafted, it really felt like I was reading about real people. This was a brilliant first novel by Ruth Hogan, and I intend to read more by this fantastic writer.