‘Girl with Glass Feet’ a melancholy fairy tale
As a little girl, fairy tales were my favorite bedtime stories. Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and their various Prince Charmings filled my dreams with lovely Disney-fied visions of happily ever after. It wasn’t until I grew up and realized that — hey, there’s some bad stuff happening here ... that stepmother really is a wicked witch ... that apple really was poisoned — that I learned fairy tales aren’t always for children.
British author Ali Shaw’s book, “The Girl with Glass Feet,” could be considered a type of fairy tale, but this story has a definite adult context, and is not of a childish nature at all.
Ida Maclaird is slowly turning to glass.
It began with a single crystal shard in her toe, but now Ida’s feet have turned to solid glass. She doesn’t know why, but she does know that it all began when she visited the strange, desolate island of St. Hauda’s Land. She heard that Henry Fuwa, a reclusive scientist she had previously encountered on the island, might have a cure for her, so she returns to find some kind of help as the glass slowly creeps up her body.
Midas Crook has lived on the island all his life and longs to escape the dreariness and monotony he finds there. Through his photography, he captures images of what he imagines a different life could be, and when he captures an image of Ida, the stranger with the large boots and even larger secrets, Midas soon realizes his life is about to change.
Even as Ida and Midas become close, the swirl of family secrets and clandestine relationships threaten their relationship. But they diligently search for Fuwa together, not realizing the man’s infatuation with Midas’ mother could prove an obstacle in their pursuit of answers for Ida. When they finally confront him, Fuwa explains there is no cure for the bizarre ailment and Ida must come to grips with the reality of her own demise — she will certainly turn entirely to glass.
In his debut novel, Shaw has created a magically emotional, although at times dismal tale of romance and courage with “The Girl with Glass Feet.” Shaw’s intimate, melancholy story has a complicated plot that at times is hard to keep straight with all the various clandestine relationships between the parental figures, but the central story of Midas and Ida is tender and heart-wrenching. Shaw has a brilliant imagination that is evidenced by the fanciful creations of the moth-winged cattle that flit through the story, and his command of the fascinating role as storyteller puts him in the good company of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Their stories were not always for children, you know.
All good fairy tales have a moral lesson within them, and “The Girl with Glass Feet” is no exception. Its moral comes from the slightly insane Henry, who tells Ida “Carry on with things. Live your life. Don’t mess with the mumbo jumbo.” Wise words, indeed.
