I grew up listening to the laugh-out-loud stories of my uncle, Robert Shaw (best known as Quint in Jaws), my mother (Robert's sister), and my grandmother (their mother). This is not your typical biography. Written in narrative style – like a novel, with plenty of dialog – it tells their story the way they told it to me.

Robert Shaw was a magnet for fascinating people. Women find him sexy. Men call him a man's man. The fact that he was a brilliant actor and a brilliant writer is almost beside the point. How he developed such a fascinating personality is at the heart of this biography. 

Robert's mother was a tough Cornishwoman who raised five children by herself after her husband committed suicide.  His sister was a Cambridge scholar, anti-Apartheid activist, working mother of seven, and champion for women’s rights. Their intertwined lives unfold across vivid settings: the Orkney Islands, wartime Cornwall, Apartheid-era South Africa, Broadway and London’s West End, and finally Martha’s Vineyard, where Robert worked on Jaws and cowrote the iconic USS Indianapolis monologue.

In this biography, you will get to know Robert Shaw like never before. You might love him for his honesty, his loyalty, and his humor, or you might hate him for his brash arrogance. Either way, he will feel like an old friend—and you can't say that about your typical biography.