* * *

'Fairy tales and myths often conclude with lessons. The heroine is rewarded, the witch burned. Shaw’s world mirrors our messier one. Goodness doesn’t automatically bring reward. Pain never fully leaves us. As Ida turns to glass, Midas must continue his own transformation, from hardened to human. The end of the book, saturated with color and emotion, is risky and brave like the message it imparts. Only a heart of glass would be unmoved.'

- Robin Romm, The New York Times

 

'Shaw has worked the great tradition of European fairy tales and come up with an ingenious story so deft it defies the obvious label "quirky". Set on a fictional northern archipelago, the world conjured up is one of frozen beauty with small Arctic creatures melting into the snowbound woods. Into this landscape steps Ida Maclaird, whose body, beginning with her carefully concealed feet, is inexplicably turning to glass. Photographer Midas, estranged from his reclusive mother, is fixated on his hated father's suicide. Falling tentatively in love with Ida, he embarks on a desperate quest to save her. The key to Ida's predicament lies with the mysterious Henry, and the lovers are further thwarted by Ida's sinister, self-appointed guardian. A magical fable of fate and resignation.'

- Catherine Taylor, Guardian

 

'Shaw is at his best when describing the fantastical world he’s created. His language manages to be poetic and economical, choosing one unexpected word to convey a scene and a feeling. Here, “blooms of fungi” on a tree are “cork roses,” and the sea is “as dark as vinyl.” Animal, vegetable, and mineral are perpetually clashing in this book: glass against flesh, rock against blood. Here, when a shadow falls across Midas’s car, it’s “like black liquid. He expected it would gush out if it opened the door.” As befits life on an island, water is a constant presence. When confronted with his intense feelings for Ida, Midas “wanted to turn into a wave so he could spill away.”

While the challenges facing Ida and Midas are real and affecting, it’s the look, the sound, and the scent of St. Hauda’s Land that stay with you after turning the last page of this beautiful novel.'

- Buzzy Jackson, The Boston Globe

 

'Shaw writes finely honed prose and knows how to wring maximum suspense out of a tightly woven plot. His is an accomplished first novel—a hypnotic book with an atmosphere all its own.'

- Julie Hale, BookPage

 

'The magic is a few little matter-of-fact things, rather than the main focus of the plot, which works well with the overall story, and the characters, despite or perhaps because of their flaws, are realistic and sympathetic. Anytime I find myself giving advice to people in a book, I think that’s a sign of how much I care about how their lives turn out.'

- Lisa McLendon, The Wichita Eagle

 

'This lovely fable is a chain of linked mysteries with accelerating suspense that propels the reader deep into Shaw’s world of marvels. That world is crafted with elegance and swept by passionate magic and the yearning for connection. A rare pleasure.'

- Katherine Dunn,
author of Geek Love

 

'Ali Shaw has written a rare orchid of a book, beautiful and eccentric and exquisitely sad.'

- Patrick Ness, 
author of The Ask and The Answer

 

'A haunting and magical tale. . . . One of the most original and memorable love stories I’ve read in a long time. . . . It takes a real talent to create such an imaginative setting yet still make readers believe and care about the characters, but first-time novelist Ali Shaw pulls it off in dazzling style, spinning an unforgettable story so vividly described that the reader is only too willing to suspend disbelief in order to be transported into his sad and lovely world.'

- Morag Lindsay, Aberdeen Press and Journal

 

'Combining magic realism, the conventions of a romance novel, and a British sense of practicality, this charming first novel creates a new fable.'

- Booklist

 

'An indulgence of mine.  The beautifully designed hardback (which has just won a prize) attracted me and the magical, unusual tale hooked me.  This charming debut is a sweetly sad love story about a mystical island and its strange effect on its inhabitants.'

- The Bookseller (UK)

 

'The Girl with Glass Feet is not just special - it’s remarkable. . . . [This] debut novel conjures up the extraordinary and fantastic, yet places it firmly in our digital world'

- The Oxford Times