Ellery Shaw's Blog
February 22, 2026
An Improbable Hypothesis – Available Now
Having written hundreds of science articles, my first full-length fiction novel – An Improbable Hypothesis – is available on Kindle now (other formats coming soon).
With a mix of real science, humor, academia, history, heartbreak and mystery, An Improbable Hypothesis is probably best described as a cosy scientific mystery.
Here's the blurb ...
Academic ambition, a biological mystery, and a long-hidden family secret come together to reveal that serendipity may be far less random than it seems.
In a laboratory in London, PhD student Emily is halfway to becoming a scientist when an accusation of fraud threatens to shatter all she has worked for. Abandoned by those she trusted, she turns to her staunchly unscientific flatmate, Penny, and with just a cheap bottle of wine, a handful of coins, and a reckless indifference to plausibility, they try to discover why her experiments are behaving so … improbably.
A puzzling statistical anomaly draws them deep into Emily’s DNA, the dusty aisles of the library, and eventually the Arctic Circle, where they unearth a family secret hidden since the end of the Second World War – a story of lost love, tragedy, and extraordinary events echoing across generations.
But there’s a bigger secret, one that reveals something amiss in the workings of fate. And someone knows they’ve found it.
Blending dry humour, accessible science, and unexpected heartbreak, An Improbable Hypothesis is a smart, inventive story about academia’s darker corners, the bonds of love and friendship, and how things don’t always work out as you’d expect.
Any questions? Get in touch!
Cheers,
Ellery Shaw
With a mix of real science, humor, academia, history, heartbreak and mystery, An Improbable Hypothesis is probably best described as a cosy scientific mystery.
Here's the blurb ...
Academic ambition, a biological mystery, and a long-hidden family secret come together to reveal that serendipity may be far less random than it seems.
In a laboratory in London, PhD student Emily is halfway to becoming a scientist when an accusation of fraud threatens to shatter all she has worked for. Abandoned by those she trusted, she turns to her staunchly unscientific flatmate, Penny, and with just a cheap bottle of wine, a handful of coins, and a reckless indifference to plausibility, they try to discover why her experiments are behaving so … improbably.
A puzzling statistical anomaly draws them deep into Emily’s DNA, the dusty aisles of the library, and eventually the Arctic Circle, where they unearth a family secret hidden since the end of the Second World War – a story of lost love, tragedy, and extraordinary events echoing across generations.
But there’s a bigger secret, one that reveals something amiss in the workings of fate. And someone knows they’ve found it.
Blending dry humour, accessible science, and unexpected heartbreak, An Improbable Hypothesis is a smart, inventive story about academia’s darker corners, the bonds of love and friendship, and how things don’t always work out as you’d expect.
Any questions? Get in touch!
Cheers,
Ellery Shaw
