The day I fell in love with popular fiction writer Jojo Moyes’s best-selling novel Someone Else’s Shoes

This came through a chance reading of her popular novel Somone Else’s Shoes one December day of 2024, when I picked the book from Melville Library’s book shelves.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

My normal reading habits is that I tend to avoid reading newly released books by popular fiction writers. This is because I believe, often well written, engaging books that leave a propound impact on the readers in terms of story line, the twists and turns of the plot and generally mastery of language are not often those by popular fiction writers. In fact, very good books oftentimes do not sell that well. There are quite a number of reasons for this, such as simply luck, marketing gimmicks by big publishers, and sometimes timing is all that it takes for a book to be popular by buyers.

This is perhaps for the same reason that creating writing departments at universities often do not prescribe popular fiction for their students. Teachers of creative writing often for the benefit of their students look for rare literature that carries so much literary weight to the extent that it becomes mind boggling when students discover for the first time such masterpieces of literary works at university libraries and not on the shelves of their neigbourhood book store.

This is though not to say that popular fiction is generally not well written and does not carry literary integrity. In fact, a good amount of such literature does. However, alongside such masterpieces among books popular with buyers, you will encounter horribly written books, but for some reason they command people’s pockets and reading habits, that is the general public who vote for such literature with their hard- earned money.

I must therefore confess that during the holidays I surprised myself as I found myself holding in my hands such a book, which I got from my local library. I was even more surprised with myself when I was not as often the case, quick to return the book to the shelves. I enjoyed reading Jojo Moyes’ novel Someone Elses’s Shoes, so much that a friend who is privy to my reading habits was surprised that I picked such a book in the first place. Even more surprised that I enjoyed reading it.

The point I a making here is that Someone Else’s book, popular fiction as it is, is damn well written. Moyes has a strong sense of writing about place, the rare ability to bring a far place that a reader has not even been so close that the place could be your neighbourhood.  Though I have been to London before, 21 years to be exactly, and can still smell some of the street atmosphere and in my memory re-remember some of the dingy bars, the kind frequented by working class Londoners, I bey=-t you even If I had not set my foot in this English metropolitan city, reading Someone else’s Shoes, could have easily made me feel that I had always known this city of this tiny English Island. Such is the creative power of Moyes’ craftmanship in general and a powerful sensibility ty to treat place in her writing.

In this novel, through her writing, you can almost smell the White Horse pub. You can almost identify a local pub in Johannesburg that fits the description and the atmosphere that exudes White Horse Pub, the coffee shop and the dodgy streets. This way of writing engages almost all senses-the sense of feeling, sense of seeing, sense of smell and triggers your imagination about the place she is writing about.

Check out this:  “The coffee shop gives a clear view of the back of the print works, a small, litter-strewn flanked by a Co-op grocery store, the White Horse Pub and an office block that appears to have been vacated several years ago, judging by the grubby windows and graffiti strewn walls.”

Moyes is also good in creating characters, almost making you feel like these are people you have encountered in your lifecomplete with their ridiculousness that sometimes leaves you angry, i9ntrigued and even loving them.

For instance, in this novel, I hate the character of Simon, Miriam’s boss who treats her like crap even though she is the one bringing the business to save design and printing ad design company she works from certain demise.

I also hate the crude businessman Carl, and not only because he decides to dump his trophy wife in the most undignified fashion imaginable -in a London Penthouseand went to bed instead with his Personal assistant, far away from their home in the US, leaving her broke and with literally the clothes on her body as he did not allow her back into the penthouse. But it is because he is also a cruel and merciless businessman, who does not mind using other people in his dealings to make money with no regards to their feelings and hurt when things go wrong.

Someone Else’s shoes is a novel with a muti-layered and complex plotthat is well written and which deals with multiple themes that as a reader you are bound to relate to. Such as a cheating and cruel husband, the effect of migration and how that distorts the labour architecture in the UK, the life lived by trophy wives of rich and ruthless business people, the indignity brought by unemployment status, such as the one situation that Phil, Miriam’s husband finds himself in, threatening to drive him mad and to unravel his marriage.

And therefore, Someone Else’ Shoes is a powerful novelthat a reader will find hard to put down once you start reading it. Irrespective of my general lack of interest when it comes to reading popular literature, especially the kind produced by best selling authors in which a category Moyes neatly falls into, I really enjoyed this book very much.

First published by Penguin Random House in 2023, a new edition has just been released in South Africa, no doubt due to its popularity with book buyers in this country as elsewhere. For me I fell in love with this novel when I picked it up in the Melville library on that sunny December Morning during the holidays of 2024.  I am actually tempted to read more of her works, particularly the newly released book We All Live Here. Please watch the space.