The 2021 Women's Prize longlist has been announced! The annual literary award celebrating women writers has previously recognised the talents of so many gifted writers, including these past winners:
On 10 March 2021, the longlist for this year's Women's Prize was announced with 16 nominees. I have a stack of these books at hand, and a couple of others on reserve from my local library. I look forward to exploring these titles.
The 2021 longlist is as follows:
South East London, 1957, and Jean Swinney is a journalist writing for a local newspaper. She is contacted by a woman who claims to have given birth despite her virginity. Sceptical Jean investigates and becomes intwined in the lives of this family. Chambers is the author of nine novels.
Piranesi lives alone in a house with infinite rooms and corridors. Twice weekly he is visited by The Other, who seeks help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. A rich, fantasy novel from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I bought myself this book for Christmas and am looking forward to a quiet, rainy weekend to read it.
A modern retelling of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Hannah and Jinni agree to kill each other's husbands. But when Hannah meats the husband she is supposed to kills, she is not certain that Jinni has been truthful about why he deserves to die. This is Craig's ninth novel. Her previous novel Hearts and Minds (2009) was long listed for the Bailey Women's Prize for Fiction.
Twenty-two year old Ava leaves Ireland for a gap year abroad. She finds herself in Hong Kong teaching English to wealthy children, moving in with a British expat banker and striking up a relationship with local lawyer Edith. Ava ponders her identity and questions of race, class and privilege. This is Dolan's debut novel.
'I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure' - with that opening line, Doshi sets the scene for a novel about a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Tara was a bit of a wild child, running away from her affluent family to pursue a life in a free-love ashram. She dragged her young daughter with her, ambivalent about her role as a parent. Now the daughter is grown and the two women have to reconcile their relationship. This is Avni Doshi's debut novel, and it was published in India as Girl in White Cotton. Burnt Sugar was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Comedian Dawn French is the author of four novels and two memoirs. Her latest novel is a tearjerker about two women who give birth in a London maternity ward on 1 January 2000. While Hope leaves with her daughter Minnie, Anna's child was stillborn. Anna returns home heartbroken to her pompous MP husband. Later, the two women's lives become interwoven.
Fifty-one year old twins Jeanie and Julius, still live with their mother Dot in an isolated, rural home. When their mother dies, their lives unravel as Dot's secrets surface. This is a story of rural poverty, marginalisation and isolation, yet also a tale of resilience and perseverance. Fuller is the author of three previous critically acclaimed novels.
Gifty grew up in a Ghanian family in Alabama. She is now a medical student at Stanford, determined to understand the addiction and depression that has afflicted her mother and brother. She struggles to reconcile her evangelical faith with her understanding of science. Gyasi's first novel, Homegoing (2016) was critically acclaimed. This is her second novel.
The story of three marriages set in Barbados which begins with a cautionary tale, told by a Grandmother, as a message about disobeying one's parents. Lala doesn't heed the warning of this tale and marries the wrong man. Against the backdrop of a tropical tourist paradise, this story tells of the gritty reality the tourists never see. Jones is an award winning writer, and this is her debut novel.
Edie is a twenty-three year old black woman working in an all-white office. She meets Eric, a man in an open marriage. When Edie finds herself unemployed, she moves in with Eric, becomes friends with his wife and bonds with Akila, the couple's adopted black daughter. Luster is Leilani's debut novel. I picked it up late last year but haven't read it yet. (Update: read review)
A woman famed for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her followers. She shares her insights while travelling, blurring the virtual and real worlds. Suddenly, she is summoned home by her mother due to a family tragedy and finds the real world is demanding more of her attention. American novelist, essayist and poet Patricia Lockwood is perhaps best known for her memoir Priestdaddy (2017). This is her debut novel.
Twins Saskia and Jenny may look alike, but are completely different. Saskia is an academically minded grad student, while Jenny is a thrill-seeking designer. After an accident, Saskia has to care for Jenny. Elsewhere Sara has to care for her disabled sister Mattie. Through these parallel lives, the author explores themes of familial responsibility, guilt and regret.
David thinks his twenty year marriage to Mary Rose is perfect. When she dies David loses himself, untethered from what he knew, not certain of his identity without her. As he reflects back on their life together, he realises that their relationship may not have been as perfect as he thought.
This provocative debut novel has appeared on many recent 'must read' lists. It is the story of three women (transgender and cisgender) whose lives are upended with an unexpected pregnancy. Reese and Amy are a transgender couple who have it all. Amy then decides to detransition and becomes Ames, bringing their relationship to an end. Ames wants Reese back, but then his cisgender lover Katrina gets pregnant. Can Ames convince the three of them to form a new kind of family?
The final novel in Smith's seasonal quartet, Summer focuses on teenage siblings Sacha and Robert, whose plans have been interrupted by COVID-19. The live with their mother Grace and their father Jeff lives next door. In this culmination of her series, Smith brings back characters from previous seasons. Ali Smith won the Women's Prize in 2015 for How to be Both.
Well, looks like 'twins' are the key theme in this year's titles! I have not read any of these titles yet, but I have copies of The Vanishing Half, Pirenesi, Summer, and Luster on my bedside table ready to read.
If I had to pick a shortlist, I would bet on Bennett, Leilani, Peters, Smith and Doshi. The shortlist will be announced on 28 April 2021 and the winner will be revealed on 7 July 2021. Happy reading!
Watch Bernardine Evaristo and the 2021 judges announce the Longlist.