AustLit

Ten-year-old Jenny sees her mother Patsy crying as she reads a letter. Determined that this won't happen again, Jenny waits for the mailman to pass by and begins collecting all the letters of the neighbourhood, which she stashes in an electrical distribution box. When Patsy finds the letters, she realises that she all but abandoned Jenny while allowing herself to be consumed with emotion following the end of a relationship. The story ends with mother and daughter sitting on a bed sorting through the letters.

Party Shoes allows us the opportunity to not only enter the private world of a girl who is seeking nurturing and purpose in the absence of her mother's attention, but to also explore the relationship between a mixed-race child and her white mother.