Anna Davis The Shoe Queen

The Shoe Queen

Anna Davis

Pocket, Jun 19 2007, $14.00

ISBN: 9781416537359

In 1925 Paris, newly married to Robert of Boston, Genevieve Shelby King knows the importance of chic shoes. She aspires to always have the best looking pair on her feet. Her biggest rival in the shoe competition is Violet de Fremont as the pair are the superpower adversaries in the shoe war.

At a literary gathering, wannabe poetess Genevieve and her best friend Lulu spot Violet's latest and though the current shoe queen critiques her opponent's latest as being ancient history, she knows she has fell a shoe size behind her enemy. Desperate, she turns to the immortal designer Paolo Zachari to make her a special pair; he refuses telling her he is not interested in the crass money of her Brahmin Bostonian boogieman spouse. As Genevieve tries to persuade the king of shoe designing to help her keep her mantle, Robert knows his wife hides something critical from him and he vows to learn what that is.

THE SHOE QUEEN is a discerning keen satirical look at 1920s Bohemia Paris mostly through the eyes (and feet) of Genevieve. The story line lampoons the post WWI life of the Left Banke artistic community that uses the inane to forget the recent atrocities of the war to end all wars. Anna Davis provides an insightful glimpse as this tale is much more than just an aspiring poetess trying to keep her crown as THE SHOE QUEEN; Anna Davis opens the window to the since romanticized 1920s bohemian subculture.

Harriet Klausner