I’m so happy to brag that my historical novel, Papa’s Shoes, received three five-star reviews in the last week. I hope you’ll pick up the book and read it while you’re at home during the coronavirus shut down. Then be so kind to write another five-star review. With huge thanks!!!
Where I Got the Idea for Papa’s Shoes
While my husband was writing our family histories some twenty-five years ago, he interviewed some of the elders in our family and collected writings by others. I became very intrigued with what my aunt – my father’s sister – wrote about her life as a young girl when she was well into her eighties. That she wrote a whole page describing her friendship – as she called it – with a young gentile teacher named Merrill Faulk. He would pick her up at her family home and take her to school plays and concerts and then out for a bite afterward. She also wrote that her brother (my father) objected so strongly that he got the family to move to Chicago to get her away from this man who was not marriage material for an Orthodox Jewish young woman. And that she still even remembered his name and could describe his looks and the way he dressed after 64 years made me think she must have still carried a torch for him. While in real life she met and married a nice Jewish man, had two children, and lived the rest of her life in Chicago, I decided to get her together with her true love.
Three recent reviews
1. Perfect read for today’s times
Papa’s Shoes is the perfect book to read when we’re spending so much more time at home and more focused on family. This book will educate you about a different period, about parents’ expectation and a girl who wants more than is acceptable, and about taking chances. What better time than now to be reminded of what’s important.
2. An enjoyable read
I read about Papa’s Shoes in an interview on the author, Madeline Sharples, in Trisha Faye’s PAGES OF THE PAST (regarding historical fiction). Glad I ordered this book as it was a convincing read and the characters and their feelings were so realistic. Set between 1908 and 1927, we are brought into the lives of a Jewish Polish family escaping their lot in life and coming to America. In dedication to the author’s grandparents, I loved how she wrote: “I apologize for my audacity in greatly fictionalizing their story.” I think they would be proud and honored.
3. Delightful read, a page turner, characters really pop
After finishing the book, I find I am missing the characters. Hoping for a sequel!
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