This week the Longlist was announced for the 2023 Booker prize. The thirteen titles nominated are dominated by four authors from Ireland. There are four debut novelists, and three authors who have previously been on the Booker longlist.
The Booker Prize Longlist is often a mixed bag of novels, but what I love about the Longlist is that it introduces me to many authors and books I do not know. For example, from last year's Longlist I read and really enjoyed Graeme Macrae Burnet's Case Study, Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These and Percival Everett's The Trees.
Eli Edugyan, chair of the judges, said of the 2023 Booker Longlist:
'The list is defined by its freshness - by the irreverence of new voices, by the iconoclasm of established ones. All 13 novels cast new light on what it means to exist in our time, and they do so in original and thrilling ways. Their range is vast, both in subject and form: they shocked us, made us laugh, filled us with anguish, but above all they stayed with us. This is a list to excite, challenge, delight, a list to bring wonder. The novels are small revolutions, each seeking to energise and awaken the language. Together - whether historical or contemporary - the offer startling portraits of the current.'
Set in Nigeria, Eniola is a teenage boy who runs errands to raise money when his father loses his job. His family is struggling, unable to pay school fees or rent. Wuraola is a young doctor working in a public hospital. She is engaged and seems to have it all. Despite their different socio-economic positions, Eniola and Wuraola's paths cross unexpectedly. The Judges describe this as a 'powerful, staggering read'. This is Adebayo's second novel. Her previous book Stay With Me was shortlisted for the 2017 Women's Prize.
Tom Kettle has retired as a police officer and is enjoying his new home on the Irish coast. He spends his days joyfully remembering his marriage to June, and sadly recalling trauma from his childhood. His isolation is disrupted when two former colleagues show up to ask about a cold case which still haunts him. The Judges write that 'both the legacy of historic child abuse in Ireland and the enduring power of love are sensitively explored in this compassionate and quietly furious book'. Barry was previously shortlisted for the Booker for A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008).
A woman moves to a 'remote northern country' to be her brother's housekeeper. He lives on the edge of a small village. She realises that the local community views outsiders with curiosity and suspicion. The Judges describe this as 'an absurdist, darkly funnily novel about the rise of xenophobia, as seen through the eye of a stranger in an unnamed town...'. Bernstein is a Canadian writer now residing in the Scottish Highlands. Her previous novel was The Coming Bad Days (2021).
This is Escoffery's debut novel, which the Judges lauded 'for its clarity, variety and fizzing prose.' Told as linked short story form, from different perspectives, timeframes and places, the novel focuses on the family of Topper and Sanya. In 1979, the couple flee the political violence in Kingston to Miami, where they hope for a better life. As immigrants, they are not welcomed and their sons grow up facing racism, poverty and displacement.
Set in the West of Ireland, Jamie O'Neill's mother Noelle died when he was born. At age 13 all he wants is to connect with is mother and to build a Perpetual Motion Machine. His teachers Tess and Tadhg support him in his creative endeavours. The Judges write that this is 'an absorbing coming-of-age story which also explores the restrictions of class and education in a small community.' This is Feeney's second novel, after her 2020 debut As You Were.
On Apple Island, off the coast of Maine, castaways have built their home. In 1792 Benjamin Honey, a former slave, arrives to make a life with his Irish wife Patience. Descendants of this couple remain on the island generations later, when in the early 20th century white missionaries arrive. The Judges were 'moved by the delicate symphony of language, land and narrative that Harding brings to bear on the story of the islanders,' Harding is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Tinkers (2010) which I did not enjoy, so I am not in a rush to read this one.
Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing, leaving her with her infant brother and grief stricken father in a small village. As a teen she remains haunted by her mother's disappearance and explores the many unanswered questions the loss of her parent raises. The Judges describe Pearl as 'an exceptional debut novel... both a mystery story and a meditation on grief, abandonment and consolation.'
Sunday lives with her sixteen year old daughter Dolly. They live a fairly structured life, which is disrupted when a glamorous couple, Vita and Rollo move next door. Vita is completely different from Sunday, who is autistic, and as their friendship grows the author explores mother/daughter relationships. The Judges say this 'is a poetic debut which masterfully intertwines themes of familial love, friendship, class, prejudice and trauma with psychological acuity and wit.'
Set in Dublin, Eilish Stack is a mother of four. One night, two officers from Ireland's secret police show up seeking her husband. As the government lurches towards tyranny, Eilish does whatever she can to keep her family together. The Judges write 'Paul Lynch's harrowing and dystopian Prophet Song vividly renders a mother's determination to protect her family as Ireland's liberal democracy slides inexorably and terrifyingly into totalitarianism.' This is Lynch's fourth novel. I love dystopian fiction, so will seek this one out.
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, enchanted by the sea. She becomes a marine biologist and joins an expedition to explore a trench in the Atlantic Ocean, and the on to a space agency in the Mojave desert. She then has to make a choice between a career opportunity and her family. The Judges says 'In Ascension is a Solaris for the climate-change age'. This is MacInnes' third novel.
Gopi is a keen squash player who has become obsessed with the sport since her mother died, distracting her from her grief. Trained by her father, she grows distant from her sisters. The Judges said 'Western Lane is a deeply evocative debut about a family grappling with grief, conveyed through crystalline language which reverberates like the sound "of a ball hit clean and hard... with a close echo".' This is Maroo's first novel.
The Barnes family is falling apart. Dickie is about to lose his car business. While his wife Imelda is selling her jewellery, Dickie is off in the woods building a bunker to see out the apocalypse. Their daughter Cass is binge drinking through her final exams and younger brother PJ is planning to run away. Where did it go wrong, and can they find their way back? Best known for Skippy Dies, The Bee Sting is Murray's forth novel.
Based on real events, this novel explores love and betrayal. W Somerset Maugham is unwell, in an unhappy marriage and struggling to write. With his secretary/lover Gerald, he visits his old friend Robert Hamlyn and his wife Lesley, who live in the Straits Settlements of Penang. Here he forms a close relationship with Lesley and she confides a tale of murder, which inspires Maugham's story 'The Letter'. Eng was longlisted for the Booker in 2007 for The Gift of Rain, and shortlisted in 2012 for The Garden of Evening Mist.
Once again I am disappointed that there are no Australian authors nominated. I didn't make any predictions this year as to who would be on the list, but had thought that Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead), Eleanor Catton (Birnam Wood), Maggie O'Farrell (The Marriage Portrait) and Zadie Smith's The Fraud might make it.
I must admit I am not really excited by this longlist. Of all the titles, the only ones I am interested in are those by Sebastian Barry, Paul Lynch and Tan Twan Eng.
The Shortlist will be announced on shortlist on 21 September 2023 and the winner on 26 November 2023. Better get reading!