Good Read: The Paperbark Shoe

I enjoy reading. Lying on the beach with a book is one of my favorite leisure activities. I sometimes look forward to long flights - which from Perth is about any flight - because it gives me an excuse to read.  But mostly I read in bed, to wind down at the end of a long day. The challenge, is keeping my eyes open long enough to make it past ten pages, no matter how enthralling the book may be.

I typically keep a running “to read” list and I try to be sure to intersperse Aussie authors into the mix. The winter issue of Scoop, a seasonal publication that is essentially about everything WA (and quite well done I might add) highlighted the novel, The Paperbark Shoe, by West Australian native Goldie Goldbloom. It was the author that initially caught my attention. Goldbloom is Perth-born but has called Chicago her home for over 15 years (I can relate). She is also a Hasidic Jew, gay, and the single mother of eight children. Ok, so I can’t relate. But no doubt, as a single mother of eight, living thousands of miles from home, she has some interesting experiences to draw inspiration from.

The Paperbark Shoe is about Gin and Toad and their two children, set during World War II in the small outback town of Wyalkatchem (a real town) in WA’s Wheatbelt. It is insecurities and not love that bring Gin and Toad together. Gin, a talented musician from a privileged upbringing in Perth feels that as an albino she can do no better than the closeted Toad with his odd fetishes. Their life changes suddenly when two Italian POWs come to work on their farm. This book covers everything from the challenges of being different, tragic love, mismatched love, family dynamics, prejudices, war, distance, infidelity, regrets, to life in a small and very remote town.

I have a particular interest in books set in a different period or foreign place which are fictional yet based on history and this book ticked all the boxes. It’s a fascinating depiction of farming life in WA’s outback during the 1940’s, with insight into the Aussie dialect and the desolate landscape of WA.

A writer of short stories, this is the first novel by Goldbloom. It won the 2008 Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Novel Award in the US.

Before you hit your local Borders or Barnes and Noble be advised that in the US it goes by the title Toads’ Museum of Freaks and Wonders. Goldbloom explains that she felt the title The Paperbark Shoe would be lost in translation. With the Paperbark tree not being common in the US, she feared it would be interpreted as Paperback.   But you'll have to read the book to learn the significance of the title.  Happy reading.  Let me know what you think!