Ali Shaw graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in English literature and has since worked as a bookseller and at Oxford’s Bodleian Library.The Girl with Glass Feet, his highly acclaimed first novel, won The Desmond Elliott Prize for 2010. The judges said: “After some soul searching and much debate, we decided on The Girl with Glass Feet as our winner. This is an extraordinary first novel - bold, original, tragic and endlessly surprising. In its exploration of frozen landscapes, both interior and exterior, and in its precisely detailed and articulated fantasy, it is possible to see a substantial author of the future.”
Shaw has described The Girl With Glass Feet as "a love story about a woman who is turning into glass."
For the Guardian, he named his top ten stories of transformation. One title on the list:
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis StevensonRead about the other books on the list.The classic story of a man continuously transforming between good and evil incarnations of himself. It finds time to consider the psychological burden of Jekyll's condition without slowing down the rip-roaring adventure story at the heart of the book.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also appears on John Mullan's list of ten of the best butlers in literature and among Yann Martel's six favorite books.
Read an excerpt from Shaw's The Girl with Glass Feet, and learn more about the book and author at Ali Shaw's website and blog.
The Page 69 Test: The Girl with Glass Feet.
--Marshal Zeringue