The Girl With The Red Boots (a Powerful Story Of Family, Friendship And Football)

By (author) Wheatle, Alex
Short description/annotation:
A thrilling and heart-warming tale about family, friendship and football from award-winning author, Alex Wheatle.
Description:

A thrilling and heart-warming tale about family, friendship and football from award-winning author, Alex Wheatle.

''Alex Wheatle is such a fine writer. This novel is beautifully written, beautifully paced. We''re drawn easily into his vivid world and we''re rooting for his hero all the way.'' - David Almond

Fourteen-year-old aspiring footballer Kadeen Best is sent to stay with her Aunt Mel in London after her beloved older brother is tragically killed and she identifies the shooter - a dangerous crime lord.

She must carry her grief while adjusting to her new home - away from everything she knows and loves in Jamaica - and living with her strict aunt. Kadeen must lie low, as if she''s recognised, she''ll put them both in serious danger.

Desperate for a distraction, Kadeen practises football in the local park where she''s asked to try out for a girls'' team. Kadeen thinks her aunt won''t approve, so she keeps it secret, and finds herself part of a new family: the SW2s.

But when Aunt Mel finds out, she is furious and bans Kadeen from playing. Can she convince her aunt to let her play her way to the top with the SW2s and avoid attracting the crime lord''s attention?

Review quote:
Alex Wheatle is such a fine writer. This novel is beautifully written, beautifully paced. We''re drawn easily into his vivid world and we''re rooting for his hero all the way.
Review quote:
Not many adult writers can write so beautifully and engagingly about the world of teens ... A moving account of love, loss and resilience.
Review quote:
The tense tale remains hopeful in the face of adversity, never shying away from uncomfortable truths but never giving in to self pity, either.
Review quote:
This 13+ story demonstrates all the late Alex Wheatle''s gifts for pared-back, gripping, intensely readable prose, eloquently laced with Jamaican Patois.
Biographical note:
Alex Wheatle (3 January 1963 - 16 March 2025) was an author of several acclaimed novels, many of them inspired by experiences from his childhood. He was born in Brixton to Jamaican parents, and spent most of his childhood in a Surrey children''s home. Following a short stint in prison following the Brixton uprising of 1981, he wrote poems and lyrics and became known as the Brixtonbard. Alex was shortlisted for numerous awards including the Carnegie Medal and the YA Book Prize. He won the Guardian Children''s Fiction Award and was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008.