Eggshells is about a woman who has no job, no friends and few social skills. So she puts out an ad that reads:
WANTED: Friend Called Penelope. Must Enjoy Talking Because I Don't Have Much to Say. Good Sense of Humor Not Required Because My Laugh Is A Work in Progress. Must Answer to Penelope: Pennies Need Not Apply.
To me, the book is about overcoming. The prize committee describes it as "a work of impressive imaginative reach, witty, subtle and occasionally endearingly unpredictable."
But here is the interesting part of awarding Caitriona Lally this prize. They didn't have far to go to find her because, for the last 3 1/2 years, Lally, who has a 14 month old daughter, has worked as a janitor at the college.
A 2004 graduate of Trinity College, Lally found herself unemployed in 2011. It was then that she got the idea for Eggshells. She describes it as:
...about a socially isolated misfit who walks around Dublin searching for patterns and meaning in graffiti or magic-sounding place names or small doors that could lead to another world.
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