This is the first book to really grab me in a quite a while! Totally un-put-downable, I was skulking off to bed early to get some extra pages in before the leading man choked off the lights and if I was being entirely honest, may have left the kids in the bath till the water went cold whilst reading on the stairs. Before you call child protection, I am pretty confident no child has died from a dip in a slightly chilly bath in recent times and my daughters are 5 and 7 and perfectly capable of getting themselves out if they so desired!

That said, The Girl With The Glass Feet is set in a strange world where people could well die in a lukewarm bath. The first book from Ali Shaw, it is a modern day fairytale, with hidden cottages, magical creatures, a damsel in distress and a mysterious transformation.

The story is pretty much as the title suggests, Ida MacLaird, has feet that are, quite literally, turning to glass. In search of a cure she returns to the remote islands she once visited where she believes her transformation began. Whilst she searches for the mysterious, Henry Fuwa, the man she hopes can save her, she meets Midas Crook, a man shattered emotionally by his personal history. One physically fragile, one emotionally, they fall in love. As the glass creeps up Ida legs, and he battles to save her, another transformation begins in Midas.

In the tradition of all good fairytales, Shaw’s tale is much more than a simple love story. It is a tale about the reality of the human condition. Human life is temporary, fleeting. However hard we try we are all transforming and in life change is inevitable, both good and bad. There is no fairytale ending because life does not have fairytale endings. But there is hope, there is redemption, and most of all, there is always love. It’s quite simply, beautiful.