The Girl with the Golden Shoes — Colin Channer

By the author of Waiting in Vain: “A sparkling gift, the tale of a meager, shoeless, raggedy abandoned Cinderella whose hardships make her all the wiser” (The Washington Post).
 
Set in 1942 on the imagined island of San Carlos -- a cultural cocktail of Trinidad, Cuba, and Jamaica -- this is the story of Estrella Thompson, a headstrong fourteen-year-old girl who's forced to fend for herself when she's banished from the isolated fishing village where she's lived all her life.
 
“The Caribbean tragi-comedy of class and colour finds a richly eloquent voice in this pin-sharp innocent abroad.” -- The Independent
 
“[Channer] writes with rare transparency, as though this story of a 14-year-old outcast welled up from the depths of the collective unconscious . . . a jewel of a book.” -- Booklist
 
“A picaresque set on the fictional Caribbean island of San Carlos in 1942, Channer's rewarding and tense novella follows the journey of fishing village outcast Estrella Thompson, a precocious 14-year-old with a woman's body who seeks shoes, employment and acceptance.” -- Publishers Weekly
 
“There's something timeless about Estrella's yearning for a better life . . . a fairy-tale novella of betrayal and hope.” -- Kirkus Reviews