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Reverse-Cinderella novel set in LONDON

3rd February 2023

Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes, reverse-Cinderella novel set in LONDON.

Reverse-Cinderella novel set in LONDON

Ella is just about holding things together in her home and work life. She pops into the gym and picks up the wrong bag as she leaves, heading immediately to a business meeting. She discovers that the clothes in the bag are high end designer, including a pair of rather fancy Louboutins. She can’t wear those to a meeting in the printing industry, but it’s either them or some flip flops. As it turns out, the height they give her imbue her with confidence, which has been gradually draining away, given her personal circumstances (depressed husband, demanding parents, a teenager, an elderly dog and a bullying boss who is determined to catch her out at every opportunity).

The bag containing the shoes she has picked up belong to Nisha Cantor, wife of millionaire (billionaire, probably) Carl Cantor. Nisha, it transpires, has fought her way into the top echelons of society back in New York, and as she leaves the gym, also with the wrong bag and discovers that her husband has blocked all her accounts and basically, cancelled her from his life – after a couple of decades of marriage! She has literally nothing but the clothes she stands up in (a pair of rundown shoes and a dressing gown from the gym).

She is a woman with attitude and has an ingrained way of dealing with people that has been honed over years of privileged living. A click of the fingers and people come running. Only not any more, given she has no authority in a dressing gown in public and someone else’s tatty shoes. Her life has consisted of being the arm candy to her ghastly husband, always a creation of perfection and grooming, and spending a lifetime of curbing her carb cravings (just think Melania T). And now? She has nothing. He will not take her calls, her phone and credit cards are blocked. She has simply been side-lined in favour of a younger model. How can she cope when her bodyguard/gofer has also taken against her and the limousine no longer purrs into sight as she exits a building? She will have to mix with ordinary and potentially germ ridden people.

The story moves through fairly predictable scenarios, as she adjusts to her new life. She discovers, however, that her shoes – those fancy Louboutins – are part of the marriage settlement which her husband intends to put on the table. Without them, there is nothing. How will she find them, given they have been purloined by a woman, somewhere in London, a city of around 9 million people? Nisha is not without guile and soon she is hunting down her target.

Reverse-Cinderella novel set in LONDON

ARC copy – Poolside

As she is hanging around The Bentley, a fancy hotel in London, she is fortuitously scooped up by senior housekeeper Jasmine, who assumes she is a newbie cleaner. They are desperate for cleaning staff, so no questions asked.  Nisha goes along with Jasmine’s assumption, as she needs some money and she has the chance of accessing the penthouse rooms occupied by her horrible husband.  Jasmine helps Nisha keep the boat steady, whilst plans are formulated.

London makes a nice backdrop to this story.

This is an entertaining, poolside read and it riotously moves through its paces. If you look too deeply  the holes in the storyline become fairly evident, but taken for what it is, it’s a nice, chill-out read.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

Catch the author on Twitter @jojomoyes and IG @jojomoyesofficial

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Comments

  1. User: Yvonne @Fiction_Books

    Posted on: 03/02/2023 at 10:17 am

    Excellent YouTube review. I’m still pondering on the book, however, there are certain aspects of it which do sound intriguing and I haven’t read any contemporary women’s fiction for some time! 🙂

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