After a month of reading, reviewing, thinking and discussing, our shadow panel has come to a unanimous decision. Our winner is Julianne Pachico for The Lucky Ones. (My full review is here.)

We were all blown away by this linked short story collection set largely in Colombia. The way the whole book fits together, with story building on story, is so sophisticated, and at the sentence level the writing is nigh on flawless. Here’s a glimpse of what the rest of the shadow panel had to say, with links to their full reviews:

“However you style it, this collection is stunningly good and marks the debut of a young author to watch.” (Annabel)

“Pachico’s writing exhibits a surreal power and I’m looking forward to reading what she writes next.” (Clare)

“Pachico’s writing is stunning, and just the way she strings sentences together was a joy to behold.” (Dane)

“Throughout the collection, the sense of something being off-kilter competes with an evocation of place and atmosphere so strong that the book practically creates its own weather.” (Eleanor)

Clare, Eleanor, Rebecca, Annabel and Dane. Photo by Maddy Pickard.

In the run-up to the official awards ceremony on December 7th, we are giving our blog readers a chance to be one of five overall winners, each of whom can choose which one of the shortlisted books they’d like to have sent to them. (The other options are Outlandish Knight by Minoo Dinshaw, The End of the Day by Claire North, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, and The Lauras by Sara Taylor.)

*Note: Unfortunately, this giveaway is limited to entries from the UK and Ireland. All entries must be received by the end of December 6th.*

Click on the Rafflecopter link below to get to the entry screen:

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