The Lady with the Red Shoes, and Other Stories

by Ita Daly

Born in Co. Leitrim, Ita Daly is very much a voice of her time. Her Hennessy Literary Award winning stories The Lady with the Red Shoes and Virginibus Puerisque were highly praised by Alan Sillitoe and Brian Friel, and another of her stories, Compassion, won the last Irish Times Short Story Competition. She writes with controlled passion about women at odds: with boyfriends, lovers, husbands, marriage itself; with youth and its memories; with custom and convention; and with their own nature as women and Irishwomen.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Ita Daly's short stories have won the Hennessy Literary Award and the Irish Times short story competition, and are collected in The Lady with the Red Shoes (1980). Her novels include Unholy Ghosts (1997), All Fall Down (1992), Dangerous Fictions (1991), A Singular Attraction (1987) and Ellen (1986). She has written two books for children, Candy on the Dart (1989) and Candy and Sharon Olé (1991). She was married to the author David Marcus until his death in 2009. She currently lives in Dublin.

Reviews

[Garret Cahill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories published in 1980. They perhaps reflect a little too strongly now the preoccupations of the 1970s which can make them feel a little dated. But she writes in a clear style, and some of the stories, particularly the final one "Such Good Friends" have an emotional heft that escapes the modish.