The Shining Girls

This article is about the novel. For the TV series, see Shining Girls.

The Shining Girls
First South African edition cover
AuthorLauren Beukes
Cover artistJoey Hi-Fi
LanguageEnglish
GenresThriller / science fiction
PublisherRandom House Struik (SA)
HarperCollins (UK)
Mulholland Books (US)
Publication date
15 April 2013 (SA)
25 April 2013 (UK)
4 June 2013 (US)
Publication placeSouth Africa
AwardAugust Derleth Award
ISBN978-1-4152-0201-2 (SA)
978-0-00-746456-2 (UK)
978-0-316-21685-2 (US)

The Shining Girls is a science fiction thriller novel by South African author Lauren Beukes.[1] The book centers on a mysterious drifter who murders the titular "shining girls" and one victim's attempts to expose him.[2]

The Shining Girls was published on 15 April 2013 by the Umuzi imprint of Random House Struik in South Africa,[3][4] on 25 April 2013 by HarperCollins[5] in the United Kingdom, and on 4 June 2013 by Mulholland Books in the United States.[6] HarperCollins had won the international rights to the book in a bidding war with several other publishers.[7][8]

Unlike her previous novels, which are set in South Africa, The Shining Girls takes place in Chicago. Beukes said that because the story steps back and forth through history, she felt South Africa would not be a suitable setting because "then it would become an Apartheid story".[9] Beukes added that race issues appear frequently in her work, but "Apartheid would have overwhelmed everything else I wanted to do with the novel".[9]

In 2013, The Shining Girls was short-listed for UK based Crime Writers' Association 2013 Goldsboro Gold Dagger award.[10] In 2014 the book won the British Fantasy Society's August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel[11]

  1. ^ "The Shining Girls SA cover reveal & ltd. ed. hardcover". Books LIVE. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  2. ^ "African novels to look out for". The Guardian. London. 1 February 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  3. ^ "The Shining Girls – Fiction – Lauren Beukes, – 9781415202012". Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  4. ^ "The Shining Girls". Archived from the original on 27 February 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  5. ^ "The Shining Girls : Lauren Beukes – HarperCollins". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Mulholland Books | The Shining Girls". Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  7. ^ Williams, Charlotte (7 October 2011). "Bidding frantic for Beukes' thriller". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  8. ^ Williams, Charlotte (21 October 2011). "Shining Girl Beukes lands at HC". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  9. ^ a b Jakola, Kaitlyn (13 August 2013). "he Shining Girls Author Tells Why Everyone's Favorite Summer Novel Is Set in Chicago". Chicago. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  10. ^ "Gold 2013: Lauren Beukes – The Shining Girls". Crime Writers' Association. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference WWE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).