Book Review: Mavis’s Shoes

To mark the occasion the book Mavis’s Shoe is to be released as an e-book. The novel is inspired by the blitz and tells the story of Lenny Gillespie, a nine-year-old girl living in Clydebank in Scotland.

In a few short hours of German bombing, Lenny loses everything she has ever known, including her mum and her beloved wee sister, Mavis.

Running from the blazing, devastated streets of Clydebank with her teacher, a grumpy neighbour and a little girl who is uncannily like her sister, Lenny escapes over the hills to Carbeth – a hut community. Desperate for news of her mum and her sister, Lenny holds onto a shoe she believes belongs to her sister Mavis and carries this with her wherever she goes.

Clydebank suffered the worst destruction and loss of civilian life in one episode in the UK in the Second World War and this excellent book goes some way to remembering those who died.

Mavis’s Shoes by Sue Reid Sexton, released as an e-book on March 13th by www.waverley-books.co.uk