Author Patricia Nicol reveals a selection of the best books on: Shoe Power

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I may have given up on wearing heels. Before I had children, I had perfected the under-regarded female art of going some distance in them. But now? Perhaps only if someone sent a litter and some strapping lackeys to carry me. 

Often, while getting ready to go out, I try on a pair at home. But then qualms about the evening’s logistics bring me to (a sensible) heel. As soon as I start thinking about having to walk for hours, or being stuck, teetering, on my feet all evening, I reach for trainers or boots. 

When first introduced in Jojo Moyes’s new novel, Someone Else’s Shoes, middle-aged Sam is feeling as flat as her regular, frumpy black work shoes. To give her a boost, her daughter buys her a spa gift token. But while using it, Sam mistakenly takes the gym bag of wealthy glamazon Nisha. Sam ends up rushing to a work meeting in a vertiginous pair of red Louboutins. Nisha, meanwhile, is brought abruptly down-toearth by having to step into Sam’s scuffed shoes. Things then go from bad to worse for both women. 

Left: Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. Right:Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber

Puss-in-Boots — whether in his pantomime, fairytale or winning Shrek incarnation — is a character who understands the subversive, transformative power of a good shoe. In Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, a feminist retelling of several classic fairytales, the exuberant Puss revels in his own sharp look. ‘Do you see these fine, high, shining leather boots of mine? 

‘Their high heels will click like castanets when Puss takes his promenade up on the tiles…’ 

In Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, Lila, a dirt-poor but dazzlingly intelligent cobbler’s daughter, persuades her family to make high-end, handmade shoes as well as repair old ones. She also agrees to marry Stefano after his family invest in her idea. When Stefano lets Mafia hoodlum, Marcello, in on the idea, Lila feels betrayed. Before her wedding night, she has turned against the marriage. 

You don’t have to click your heels together to be transported by these books. You can stay in your socks and slippers.

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