The Silver Shoes

San Francisco artist Anne McFarland has been distracted by a cross-country romance with sexy Sergio and has veered from her creative path. While visiting him in New York, she buys a pair of rhinestone shoes in an antique shop that spark her imagination and lead her on a quest to learn more about the shoes’ original owner.

Almost ninety years earlier, Clair Deveraux, a sheltered 1929 New York debutante, tries to reside within the bounds of polite society and please her father. But when she meets Winnie, a carefree Macy’s shop girl, Clair is lured into the steamy side of Manhattan—a place filled with speakeasies, flappers, and the beat of “that devil music”—and her true desires explode wide open. Secrets and lies heap up until her father loses everything in the stock market crash and Clair becomes entangled in the burlesque world in an effort to save her family and herself.

Ultimately, both Anne and Clair—two very different women living in very different eras—attain true fulfillment . . . with some help from their silver shoes.

Praise for The Silver Shoes

“Once again, this wonderful storyteller transports us to another time and place. The Silver Shoes surprises and delights.”

—T. GREEENWOOD, author of Rust & Stardust, Two Rivers, and Where I Lost Her

“You’ll be cheering for both of these heroines as they insist on finding their own way as artists, no matter what the men in their lives want them to be.”

—Janice Steinberg, art journalist, and author of The Tin Horse

Trip Well Gal “Second Hand Style”

The Fussy Librarian “Author Q & A: Jill G. Hall”

These collages, assemblages and mosaics were inspired by The Silver Shoes or incorporated into it. Many times I used the process of making them to add depth to my writing in a later draft. If you’ve read the novel see if you can recognize which chapters the pieces may have come from.

Download the Discussion Sheet to print it.

Discussion Questions

The book explores the experiences of two women at defining moments in their lives. Do you identify more with Clair or Anne? Who would you want as your best friend?
How are the decisions that Sylvia and Anne make shaped by the era they live in? How do you think each would do if they switched places in time?
Do you believe the shoes have magical powers? If you had silver shoes where would you wear them?
When Clair meets Winnie she feels as if she had a good feeling about her as if she’d known her for a long time. Have you ever felt this way about someone?
One of the book’s themes is to follow your heart. Do you think this is good advice? Another theme is soul place. Do you believe in the concept? Do you have one?
What are the main events that helped both Anne and Clair gain confidence and grow as characters throughout the story?
How did Anne and Clair’s relationships with the men in their lives evolve as the story progressed?
What advice would you give Clair or Anne at the beginning, middle, and end of the story?
The book uses several cinematic elements. If you were to cast the movie, who do you think should play Anne and Clair? Who would play the supporting roles?
Do you shop at vintage stores? Do you ever wonder about who owned certain items and what their life was like?