Clown's Shoes

Onstage again, you stare down at your feet, imagining you see the bright, painted curves of a pair of clown's shoes... It helps to pretend you are a clown, hidden inside baggy trousers, your true face invisible behind splashes of red lipstick and pale powder... A dazzling debut collection from a young talent, these critically acclaimed stories dip into the shadows and spotlights of life. From the pale waking hours to the darkling places, Clown's Shoes introduces us to a cast of lost characters trying to find their way, and asking whether everyone really does come salting home in the end? Since the Devil visited the glove maker, she has found herself in the asylum counting out days instead of stitches. At the dog track, hidden amongst the rowdy punters, a woman bets on underdogs, life and love. In a small Welsh town, a young Korean immigrant tells her secrets to the sway of the sea and, as day breaks over the estuary, a woman watches the cockle pickers' clumsy dance routine, over a decade since her daughter disappeared. Yearning for fame, an inexperienced magician dices with death. In the Warsaw Ghetto, two sisters bargain for their lives. In sad, wet London, a neglected girl prostitutes herself to feed her family whilst onstage, somewhere ago, a desperate mother performs a nightly striptease. The people who populate Clown's Shoes are lonely, they are frightened, and most of all they are full of hope.