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A review by phoenixinthecity
Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore
5.0
This is a fantastic retelling of The Red Shoes from 3 POVs over two timelines that span 5 centuries. We are first introduced to the girls: Rosella, whose family makes beautiful shoes in the present day; Lala, a Romani girl in 1508 Strasbourg, who meets Alifair, the trans boy that she will fall in love with; and finally Emil, the boy who’s Lala’s descendant in the present.
I read this with a sense of impending dread for Lala and Alifair as the fievre de la danse - an actual historical event(!) - overtook Strasbourg in 1518, which is echoed 500 years later when Rosella is overcome by a pair of red shoes she had stitched herself. I won’t say more to avoid spoilers but rest assured that there is a beautiful ending full of trans and queer joy.
A-M McLemore also wrote a trans remix of The Great Gatsby called Self-Made Boys which was just as brilliant a reimagining as Dark and Deepest Red.
I read this with a sense of impending dread for Lala and Alifair as the fievre de la danse - an actual historical event(!) - overtook Strasbourg in 1518, which is echoed 500 years later when Rosella is overcome by a pair of red shoes she had stitched herself. I won’t say more to avoid spoilers but rest assured that there is a beautiful ending full of trans and queer joy.
A-M McLemore also wrote a trans remix of The Great Gatsby called Self-Made Boys which was just as brilliant a reimagining as Dark and Deepest Red.