A novel to fall in love with - for anyone who loved the escapism of "The Time Traveller's Wife" and "The Memory Keeper's Daughter". A mysterious metamorphosis has taken hold of Ida MacLaird - she is slowly turning into glass. Fragile and determined to find a cure, she returns to the strange, enchanted island where she believes the transformation began, in search of reclusive Henry Fuwa, the one man who might just be able to help...Instead she meets Midas Crook, and another transformation begins: as Midas helps Ida come to terms with her condition, they fall in love. What they need most is time - and time is slipping away fast.
The Girl with Glass Feet
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"'Magical' Guardian 'Ali Shaw has written a rare orchid of a book, beautiful and eccentric and exquisitely sad' Patrick Ness 'Shaw has worked the great tradition of European fairy tales and come up with an ingenious story... A magical fable of fate and resignation.' Guardian 'Virtually weightless in execution... Gorgeously written, its unsentimental confrontation with mortality belies its whimsical surfaces.' Metro 'A haunting and magical tale... 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.' Aberdeen Press and Journal '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... It's a very visual novel - readers who enjoy using their imagination will adore it.' Oxford Times"
About the Author
Ali Shaw was born in 1982 and grew up in a small town in Dorset. He graduated from Lancaster University with a first class degree in English Literature and has since worked as a bookseller and at Oxford's Bodleian Library. He is currently writing his second novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful
By Kat
Format:Paperback
I thought this was an unusual story that was beautifully written and stayed with me long after I'd finished it. I do agree in part with some of the reviews but the book is described as a fairy story for adults and it is just that. I found Ida's condition and the random elements of magic and mystery connected to the Islands perfectly in keeping with the whole story. I didn't feel any need to question them or expect an explanation. As a first novel I thought it was exceptional and I enjoyed it far more than many stories I've read by more established and experienced authors who, in my opinion, excel in writing ability but don't necessarily have the same imagination to create such a strange and beautiful story. Read it and make your own mind up, but definitely an author to watch out for.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Isola
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"The Girl with the Glass Feet" is a grown up, European fairy tale set on a fictional northern archipelago where nature asserts itself in strange ways. Although a magical tale, the story is modern, containing real life experiences. I believe it's Ali Shaw's debut novel after his English Lit. degree.
I don't think I was sufficiently in touch with my imagination the first time I read this book - and after a second read I still can't connect with miniature flying cattle!! However, this is a hypnotic novel with an atmosphere all of its own and Shaw writes finely honed prose. His writing is very English and the story is told at a gentle pace. I think it's a young person's read, but that could be because the author himself is only in his twenties.
Exuberant Ida MacLaird, from the mainland, meets an introverted photographer, Midas Crook who was born and bred on St. Hauda's. She tries to rescue Midas from the past and he tries to rescue Ida from the future. If you changed her condition to an earthly incurable desease, I feel the story would stand alone - without the flying cattle!
But this is an imaginitive first novel full of love, but also the power, limitations and consequences of love. Although only around 300 pages it isn't an easy, or even a comfortable read at times, but it is hauntingly beautiful when Shaw paints his fictional setting in those cold Nordic hues.
I found most of the characters interesting as they were flawed; not all likable, although they were engaging - but oh how the author makes the women suffer! I also think there must be 'something' in the names of the progtagonists, 'Midas' & 'Ida' besides touch - as her name is within his, but I didn't work it out.
For me, Shaw's debut novel lacks experience, but is rich in invention; set to improve.
I don't think I was sufficiently in touch with my imagination the first time I read this book - and after a second read I still can't connect with miniature flying cattle!! However, this is a hypnotic novel with an atmosphere all of its own and Shaw writes finely honed prose. His writing is very English and the story is told at a gentle pace. I think it's a young person's read, but that could be because the author himself is only in his twenties.
Exuberant Ida MacLaird, from the mainland, meets an introverted photographer, Midas Crook who was born and bred on St. Hauda's. She tries to rescue Midas from the past and he tries to rescue Ida from the future. If you changed her condition to an earthly incurable desease, I feel the story would stand alone - without the flying cattle!
But this is an imaginitive first novel full of love, but also the power, limitations and consequences of love. Although only around 300 pages it isn't an easy, or even a comfortable read at times, but it is hauntingly beautiful when Shaw paints his fictional setting in those cold Nordic hues.
I found most of the characters interesting as they were flawed; not all likable, although they were engaging - but oh how the author makes the women suffer! I also think there must be 'something' in the names of the progtagonists, 'Midas' & 'Ida' besides touch - as her name is within his, but I didn't work it out.
For me, Shaw's debut novel lacks experience, but is rich in invention; set to improve.
44 of 49 people found the following review helpful
By DB Roberts
Format:Hardcover
'The Girl with Glass Feet' is an accomplished and beautifully written first novel. The snowbound archipelago of St Hauda's Land is poetically rendered and elements of fantasy or magical realism are effectvely counterpointed by a keen photographer's eye for naturalistic detail and a well judged sense of psychological realism.
The fantastical nature of Ida MacLaird's predicament is brought to life by the quality of the writing and an admirable attention to anatomical detail, making suspension of disbelief surprisingly easy. This is some achievement and a major strength of the book. Ali Shaw makes you believe in and care about his characters, as a result this is a moving and emotionally satisfying read.
In some ways the whole novel is an extended poem to a landscape that is both real and fantastical and echoes with it's character's past and present, their potential and their frozen emotional states. Ida's presence is transformative, most particularly for Midas, just as she herself is transformed in a terrible and tragic way.
At times along the way, the merging of reality and fantasy does throw up the odd inconsistency and unanswered question. But then, as Ian McCulloch once said when asked about his lyrics, "Who wants to explain poetry?"
Read it and enjoy.
The fantastical nature of Ida MacLaird's predicament is brought to life by the quality of the writing and an admirable attention to anatomical detail, making suspension of disbelief surprisingly easy. This is some achievement and a major strength of the book. Ali Shaw makes you believe in and care about his characters, as a result this is a moving and emotionally satisfying read.
In some ways the whole novel is an extended poem to a landscape that is both real and fantastical and echoes with it's character's past and present, their potential and their frozen emotional states. Ida's presence is transformative, most particularly for Midas, just as she herself is transformed in a terrible and tragic way.
At times along the way, the merging of reality and fantasy does throw up the odd inconsistency and unanswered question. But then, as Ian McCulloch once said when asked about his lyrics, "Who wants to explain poetry?"
Read it and enjoy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your money
I so wanted to like this but no matter how hard I tried it wasn't for happening. The title grabbed me but that was it, I found the characters with the exception of Ida boring and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by angelicfi
4.0 out of 5 stars
A haunting read
If you accept that people are adrift in their own neuroses, that love can bloom and die without warning, that bad things happen to the undeserving, and more - trust to the fact... Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. Jordan
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly Magical
I was so excited to start this book, it looks beautiful and the story is so original but within the first couple of chapters I found it hard to follow. Read more
Published 4 months ago by wendy doyle
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fairy tale with anti-climax.
I was recommended this book after reading (and loving!) "The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey. I love books with a slight twist of fantasy, a bit unreal and magical, and I was hoping "The... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lola
5.0 out of 5 stars
fiction meets fantasy plausibly
surreal bordering on the possible... suspension of disbelief... range of vision outside the usual. The implausible shapes into pragmatism: this is another place, expect the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Judith Joseph
1.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't get the point at all.
We read this book for my 'book club group', through Leek library- ten women, and none of us enjoyed it.
Published 5 months ago by F M Mcdonald
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely book!
Such a lovely book to read.
I found it hard to begin with, as I was focusing more on the plot of the girls feet. Read more
I found it hard to begin with, as I was focusing more on the plot of the girls feet. Read more
Published 5 months ago by daisytea
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was expecting!
Not at all what I was expecting of the story. Still have a bit to go so keeping fingers crossed.....
Published 5 months ago by M. Forde
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not that good.
I'm a fan of magic realism and so I was excited to read this novel from a new magic realist writer. I feel rather churlish not to be more enthusiastic about it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Zoe Brooks
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dull, tedious and more than a little pretentious.
I love books that add a layer of magic and mystery to the real world. This book didn't. The blurb, title and cover promised so much and yet the book itself delivered so little! Read more
Published 6 months ago by NovaStar
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