Marilynne Robinson wins Orange prize

[Robert]

Debut novelist beats Toni Morrison on to Orange prize shortlist

Debut novelist beats Toni Morrison on to Orange prize for fiction shortlist | Books | guardian.co.uk

A debut British novelist has been selected over American literary heavyweight Toni Morrison for the shortlist for this year's Orange prize for fiction.
Samantha Harvey's first novel, The Wilderness, the story of a man in his early 60s struggling to hold on to his identity as Alzheimer's takes hold of his mind, was chosen by judges for the six-strong Orange shortlist, ahead of Nobel prize for literature winner Morrison's 17th century slave trade novel, A Mercy. The £30,000 women-only prize looks to reward excellence, accessibility and originality in writing.

If it's good enough to beat out Toni Morrison then it must be worth looking into.

 

[Robert]

The shortlist in full
Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman (Picador)
The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (Cape)
The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt (Harvill Secker)
Molly Fox's Birthday by Deidre Madden (Faber)
Home by Marilynne Robinson (Virago)
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury)

 

[Peder]

Interesting. She might even run past Marilynne Robinson.

 

[Robert]

I've already added the title to my shopping list.

I checked out some of the comments on Amazon, and it seems the biggest touble readers had is that it isn't an easy read. If that's the worse of it, then count me in.

 

[abecedarian]

They all look interesting. I know Kamilla Shamsie from reading her Broken Verses...excellent book. My amazon/interlibrary loan wish list just expanded. Good work Robert!

 

[-Carlos-]

Interesting. She might even run past Marilynne Robinson.

I love Robinson.

 

[Robert]

Marilynne Robinson wins Orange prize

Home, only the third novel Robinson has published in 28 years, is unanimous choice of judges