Reviews | Goldie Goldbloom

Book Info

“Movingly evocative of time, place and character, The Paperbark Shoe is set in the West Australian outback during World War II. Barely scraping a living from the barren land are Gin and Toad, she treated with suspicion by the locals partly because she is newly arrived from the city but mostly because she is an albino, lie derided by the locals for his short stature and lack of machismo. Their marriage was meant to be an escape for them both, but Gin, a cultured pianist, finds Toad’s crudeness unbearable. Into their lives come the refined Antonio and the striking Giancarlo, two of many Italian POWs sent to labour on farms in the last years of the war. Love is as inevitable as it is illicit and, eventually, inconstant.

Gin’s voice is truly memorable in its searing emotion and discomfiting honesty, even when we know that she is not being honest with herself. Gin, Toad and Antonio especially are clearly rendered, and there are also memorable minor characters inhabiting the small town that projects so much loathing into their lives.

Goldie Goldbloom has received several awards for her short fiction, and her first novel is an assured debut written in beautifully precise language. If it falters slightly it does so only at the very end, perhaps because Goldbloom found it hard to farewell her characters. So too will the reader.”

Lorien Kaye

“I thought of Flannery O’Conner as I read this remarkable novel, which is sometimes horribly funny and sometimes heartbreaking, always gripping and populated by unforgettable characters. I thought of Christina Stead as well – but mostly I thought: I have never read anything quite like this, nor has anyone else. The voice is acid, funny, at first commonsensical and un-self-pitying, later lyrical, later madly deluded; the voice is gorgeous, it is brilliant. How Goldie Goldbloom makes us feel the absolute reality of another human soul while simultaneously making us shriek with laughter is beyond me. But this is exactly what she does, and the result is dazzling.”

Andrea Barrett

“The Paperbark Shoe is a strange, mesmerizing tale about characters uncomfortably defined by superficial eccentricities. It is also a wrenching love story.”

Joanna Scott

What an astonishing book this is! It’s hard to believe “The Paperbark Shoe” is Goldie Goldbloom’s first novel because she has the audaciousness, the wildly inventive language, and the historical mastery of – well, it would be hard to think of any one writer she resembles. Her book runs like a live current between poles of emotion, searing a path between delight and pain, the local and the universal, and finally between love and loss. I can’t remember when I last heard a new voice as exhilarating as this.

Rosellen Brown

	Book Info Press Reviews Book Trailer Win A Book “Movingly evocative of time, place and character, The Paperbark Shoe is set in the West Australian outback during World War II. Barely scraping a living from the barren land are Gin and Toad, she treated with suspicion by the locals partly because she is newly arrived from the city but mostly because she is an albino, lie derided by the locals for his short stature and lack of machismo. Their marriage was meant to be an escape for them both, but Gin, a cultured pianist, finds Toad’s crudeness unbearable. Into their lives come the refined Antonio and the striking Giancarlo, two of many Italian POWs sent to labour on farms in the last years of the war. Love is as inevitable as it is illicit and, eventually, inconstant. Gin’s voice is truly memorable in its searing emotion and discomfiting honesty, even when we know that she is not being honest with herself. Gin, Toad and Antonio especially are clearly rendered, and there are also memorable minor characters inhabiting the small town that projects so much loathing into their lives. Goldie Goldbloom has received several awards for her short fiction, and her first novel is an assured debut written in beautifully precise language. If it falters slightly it does so only at the very end, perhaps because Goldbloom found it hard to farewell her characters. So too will the reader.” Lorien Kaye “I thought of Flannery O’Conner as I read this remarkable novel, which is sometimes horribly funny and sometimes heartbreaking, always gripping and populated by unforgettable characters. I thought of Christina Stead as well – but mostly I thought: I have never read anything quite like this, nor has anyone else. The voice is acid, funny, at first commonsensical and un-self-pitying, later lyrical, later madly deluded; the voice is gorgeous, it is brilliant. How Goldie Goldbloom makes us feel the absolute reality of another human soul while simultaneously making us shriek with laughter is beyond me. But this is exactly what she does, and the result is dazzling.” Andrea Barrett “The Paperbark Shoe is a strange, mesmerizing tale about characters uncomfortably defined by superficial eccentricities. It is also a wrenching love story.” Joanna Scott What an astonishing book this is! It’s hard to believe “The Paperbark Shoe” is Goldie Goldbloom’s first novel because she has the audaciousness, the wildly inventive language, and the historical mastery of – well, it would be hard to think of any one writer she resembles. Her book runs like a live current between poles of emotion, searing a path between delight and pain, the local and the universal, and finally between love and loss. I can’t remember when I last heard a new voice as exhilarating as this. Rosellen Brown