Ballet Shoes

Ballet Shoes by English author Noel Streatfeild is the first novel in her Shoes book collection. Originally published by British publisher J. M. Dent in 1936, the children’s book has since become a classic of English literature, inspiring two different screen adaptations (a TV series in 1975 and a British television film in 2007). It was recently adapted for the stage by Kendall Fever and directed by Katy Rudd, premiering at the National Theatre in London in 2024. Ballet Shoes was the runner-up for the Library Association’s inaugural Carnegie Medal, which recognizes the best British children’s book written by a British subject that year. In 2019, the BBC listed the book on its list of the 100 Most Inspiring Novels. 

This guide refers to the 2003 edition published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death.

Plot Summary

Set in 1930s London, Ballet Shoes follows the story of three sisters: Pauline, Petrova, and Posy, each with a remarkable talent of her own. Each is adopted as a baby by their great uncle Matthew (or Gum, as he’s affectionately called), an explorer and fossil collector, and they all live in a house on Cromwell Road with Gum’s niece Sylvia and their nurse, Nana. Gum sends Posy, the last of the three he adopts, to the house with a letter saying that he plans to be away for at least five years and has set money aside to support them all while he’s off on his next adventure.

As the years pass, the sisters’ individual interests emerge. Pauline is excellent at reciting poems at school. Posy, who had her birth mother’s ballet shoes when Gum adopted her, has a pension for dance. Petrova is incredibly good at arithmetic and the inner workings of things like planes and cars. Meanwhile, Sylvia and Nana are concerned with their grim financial situation. While they can afford to send the girls to school for a while, the money from Gum soon starts to dwindle, and they’ve received no word that he’ll be home soon. Sylvia must pull them out of school for the time being, and she starts to plan another source of income.

She and Nana move some of Gum’s fossils out of the extra rooms and place an ad for boarders. Soon, they welcome several new people into their home. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson from Malay take an instant liking to Petrova, who bonds with Mr. Simpson over his fancy automobile. Miss Theo Dane, a dance teacher, becomes Posy’s favorite, and two women professors, Dr. Jakes and Dr. Smith, encourage Pauline’s love of poetry and literature, eventually introducing her to the works of William Shakespeare.

In one of their lessons, Dr. Jakes tells Pauline that she and her sisters are lucky to have her adopted family and the choice of their own surname (they chose the name Fossil since that is what Gum called them when he adopted them). She says that they have the opportunity to have their names in history and that since their surname belongs to only them, no one will think they’re famous because of something their grandfather did. This impresses Pauline, who asks her sisters to vow with her to do all they can for their names to go down in history.

The boarders, noticing the family’s dire financial situation, help educate the three girls. Miss Dane takes them all to a school for the arts so that they can practice ballet, theater, and foreign languages, while Dr. Jakes and Dr. Smith offer to help Sylvia tutor them in other subjects at home. Mr. Simpson helps nurture Petrova’s inquisitive mind by taking her to the garage on Sundays and letting her assist in fixing automobiles.

The performing arts school is run by a retired Russian ballet dancer, Madame Fidolia. Though rarely impressed, she sees a special talent in Posy and takes her under her wing as a private pupil. Meanwhile, Pauline discovers a love for acting, but Petrova finds school boring and prefers to spend her time reading about planes or helping Mr. Simpson in the garage.

After years of eagerly waiting to turn 12, the legal age for children to work on the stage, Pauline finally has the opportunity to obtain a license. She receives a wellness checkup, and Dr. Jakes and Dr. Smith attest that she’s caught up in her learning and is a very bright student.

Pauline and another girl, Winifred, are up for the main role of Alice in a production based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Even though Pauline wants the money to help Sylvia provide for the family, when she hears about Winifred’s many siblings and sick father, she can’t help but wish that Winifred would get the part instead. Ultimately, the role goes to Pauline, who looks more the part than Winifred, but Winifred’s talent wins her the understudy role.

During her time as the star, Pauline develops an ego that starts to grate on her family’s nerves. She eventually gets so demanding that she refuses to hang up a cloak as her stage manager asks. This stunt gets her put on probation for one of the shows: Winifred will play Alice. This painful but necessary lesson provides a great deal of growth for Pauline.

Eventually, Petrova is old enough to get her license too, which she does out of a duty to help her family financially. She and Pauline are cast alongside each other as Mustardseed and Peaseblossom in a wonderfully successful production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. All the while, Petrova wonders if she’ll have to be on stage all her life since she doesn’t enjoy it like her sisters do. Mr. Simpson somewhat eases her mind when he tells her that she still has a lot of time to figure out what she wants to do with her life.

Petrova continues to get smaller roles in shows, enough to make some money, but Pauline’s talent only grows. She’s asked to audition for a role in a historical drama film; after weeks of waiting, she learns that she got the role. She finds the work less interesting than being on the stage, but it pays significantly more, so she continues on that path. However, what the two girls bring in and what the boarders pay isn’t enough to keep the house on Cromwell Road. Sylvia makes the heartbreaking decision to sell the house, which will break up the family that has formed there.

One day, a Hollywood agent visits Pauline and offers to sign her for five years’ worth of projects there; however, she initially declines the offer since she prefers the stage. After telling her family about the offer, Posy then runs in, excited after meeting an incredible ballet dancer who works out of Czechoslovakia.

Posy says that she saw him dance and knew that she had to learn from him, so she went to the theater and insisted on dancing for him. He offered to teach her if she is willing to study in Czechoslovakia. Petrova and Pauline worry that she won’t have the money for it, but then Pauline informs them all that she has decided to sign on with the Hollywood agent. Sylvia will accompany her, and Nana will join Posy. 

Just then, Gum returns from his adventures just as all the occupants of the house on Cromwell Road are set to go their separate ways. Gum is ready to nurture Petrova’s love of airplanes and plans to buy a home near an aerodrome where she can study. The sisters remark on how the two in the arts may not end up in history books, but Petrova still has a chance. Pauline and Posy make one last vow: to do whatever they can to help Petrova’s name go down in history.