The Girl with the Golden Shoes

March 19, 2007
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 in the capital city of Seville after being excommunicated from her village. Along the way, she meets sundry men, some of whom offer to help her and almost none of whom ought to be trusted. Estrella comes of age practically by the hour, learning what to expect of others, what to value in herself and how to make her own demands. Channer writes with an intriguing, lyrical blend of English and Caribbean patois and uses simple language and crisp imagery (a woman's face is "as plain and inexpressive as an egg"; beach sand is "so white that on the coolest days you had to squint to see it"). While Channer's earlier work engaged the psyche of Caribbean diaspora in less subtle narratives (Waiting in Vain
; Satisfy My Soul
), this novella—a moral fable, Russell Banks notes in his afterword—signals the arrival of a talent matured.

June 1, 2007
Far from wearing golden shoes, 14-year-old Estrella Thompson has no shoes at all. She lives with her grandparents, who eke out a marginal existence fishing on the Caribbean island of San Carlos in 1942. Spirited and ambitious, Estrella is marked as a troublemaker by the locals, who exile her from their small community. The novella follows her on her incident-filled journey to the island's one big town, Seville, in search of a job. Her first goal is to buy a good pair of shoes because she knows no one will hire a barefoot girl. Along the way, she encounters more hostile villagers and meets a horseman who calls himself Simon Bolivar. More troubles await in town, but Estrella lands on her feet and finds a way of getting those new shoes. Founder of the Calabash International Literary Festival and editor of "Iron Balloons", a collection of Jamaican fiction, the Jamaican-born Channer has created an unforgettable character in Estrella. Recommended for most libraries.Leslie Patterson, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence

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