I’ve been working on a list of novels eligible for this year’s Women’s Prize since … this time last year. Unusual for me to be so prepared! It shows how invested I’ve become in this prize over the years. For instance, last year my book club was part of an official shadowing scheme, which was great fun.
We’re now less than a month out from the longlist, which will be announced on 7 March. Like last year, I’ve separated my predictions from a wish list; two titles overlap. Here’s a reminder of the parameters, taken from the website:
“Any woman writing in English – whatever her nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter – is eligible. Novels must be published in the United Kingdom between 1 April in the year the Prize calls for entries, and 31 March the following year, when the Prize is announced. … The Prize only accepts novels entered by publishers, who may each submit a maximum of two titles per imprint, depending on size, and one title for imprints with a list of ten fiction titles or fewer published in a year. Previously shortlisted and winning authors are given a ‘free pass’.”
This year I dutifully kept tabs on publisher quotas as I compiled my lists. I also attempted to bear in mind the interests of this year’s judges (also from the website): “Chair of Judges, author and journalist Louise Minchin, is joined by award-winning novelist Rachel Joyce; author, journalist and podcaster Irenosen Okojie; bestselling author and journalist Bella Mackie and MP for Hampstead and Kilburn Tulip Siddiq.”
Predictions
A Spell of Good Things, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton
Joan, Katherine J. Chen
Maame, Jessica George
Really Good, Actually, Monica Heisey
Trespasses, Louise Kennedy
The Night Ship, Jess Kidd (my review)
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (my review)
Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng (my review)
The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell
I’m a Fan, Sheena Patel
Elektra, Jennifer Saint
Best of Friends, Kamila Shamsie
River Sing Me Home, Eleanor Shearer
Lucy by the Sea, Elizabeth Strout – currently reading
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin (my review)
Wish List
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, Angie Cruz
The Weather Woman, Sally Gardner (my review)
Maame, Jessica George
The Great Reclamation, Rachel Heng
Bad Cree, Jessica Johns
I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai – currently reading
Sea of Tranquillity, Emily St. John Mandel (my review)
The Hero of This Book, Elizabeth McCracken (my review)
Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley (my review)
We All Want Impossible Things, Catherine Newman – currently reading
Everything the Light Touches, Janice Pariat (my review)
Camp Zero, Michelle Min Sterling – review pending for Shelf Awareness
Briefly, A Delicious Life, Nell Stevens (my review)
This Time Tomorrow, Emma Straub (my review)
Fight Night, Miriam Toews – currently reading
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin (my review)
Of course, even if I’m lucky, I’ll still only get a few right across these two lists, and I’ll be kicking myself over the ones I considered but didn’t include, and marvelling at all the ones I’ve never heard of…
What would you like to see on the longlist?
~BREAKING NEWS: There are plans afoot to start a Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. Now seeking funding to start in 2024. More details here.~
Appendix
(A further 99 eligible novels that were on my radar but didn’t make the cut:)
Hester, Laurie Lico Albanese
Rose and the Burma Sky, Rosanna Amaka
Milk Teeth, Jessica Andrews
Clara & Olivia, Lucy Ashe
Wet Paint, Chloë Ashby
Shrines of Gaiety, Kate Atkinson
Honey & Spice, Bolu Babalola
Hell Bent, Leigh Bardugo
Either/Or, Elif Batuman
Girls They Write Songs About, Carlene Bauer
seven steeples, Sara Baume
The Witches of Vardo, Anya Bergman
Shadow Girls, Carol Birch
Permission, Jo Bloom
Horse, Geraldine Brooks
Glory, NoViolet Bulawayo
Mother’s Day, Abigail Burdess
Instructions for the Working Day, Joanna Campbell
People Person, Candice Carty-Williams
Disorientation, Elaine Hsieh Chou
The Book of Eve, Meg Clothier
Cult Classic, Sloane Crosley
The Things We Do to Our Friends, Heather Darwent
The Bewitching, Jill Dawson
Common Decency, Susannah Dickey
Theatre of Marvels, L.M. Dillsworth
Haven, Emma Donoghue
History Keeps Me Awake at Night, Christy Edwall
The Candy House, Jennifer Egan
Dazzling, Chikodili Emelumadu
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, Akwaeke Emezi
there are more things, Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Factory Girls, Michelle Gallen
Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
The Illuminated, Anindita Ghose
Your Driver Is Waiting, Priya Guns
The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty
The Dance Tree, Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Weyward, Emilia Hart
Other People Manage, Ellen Hawley
Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes
The Cloisters, Katy Hays
Motherthing, Ainslie Hogarth
The Unfolding, A.M. Homes
The White Rock, Anna Hope
They’re Going to Love You, Meg Howrey
Housebreaking, Colleen Hubbard
Vladimir, Julia May Jonas
This Is Gonna End in Tears, Liza Klaussmann
The Applicant, Nazli Koca
Babel, R.F. Kuang
Yerba Buena, Nina Lacour
The Swimmers, Chloe Lane
The Book of Goose, Yiyun Li
Amazing Grace Adams, Fran Littlewood
All the Little Bird Hearts, Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Now She Is Witch, Kirsty Logan
The Chosen, Elizabeth Lowry
The Home Scar, Kathleen MacMahon
Very Cold People, Sarah Manguso
All This Could Be Different, Sarah Thankam Mathews
Becky, Sarah May
The Dog of the North, Elizabeth McKenzie
Dinosaurs, Lydia Millet
Young Women, Jessica Moor
The Garnett Girls, Georgina Moore
Black Butterflies, Priscilla Morris
Lapvona, Ottessa Moshfegh
Someone Else’s Shoes, Jojo Moyes
The Men, Sandra Newman
True Biz, Sara Nović
Babysitter, Joyce Carol Oates
Tomorrow I Become a Woman, Aiwanose Odafen
Things They Lost, Okwiri Oduor
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, Soraya Palmer
The Things that We Lost, Jyoti Patel
Still Water, Rebecca Pert
Stargazer, Laurie Petrou
Ruth & Pen, Emilie Pine
Delphi, Clare Pollard
The Whalebone Theatre, Joanna Quinn
The Poet, Louisa Reid
Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Kick the Latch, Kathryn Scanlan
Blue Hour, Sarah Schmidt
After Sappho, Selby Wynn Schwartz
Signal Fires, Dani Shapiro
A Dangerous Business, Jane Smiley
Companion Piece, Ali Smith
Memphis, Tara M. Stringfellow
Flight, Lynn Steger Strong
Brutes, Dizz Tate
Madwoman, Louisa Treger
I Laugh Me Broken, Bridget van der Zijpp
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, Rebecca Wait
The Schoolhouse, Sophie Ward
Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, Laura Warrell
The Odyssey, Lara Williams
A Complicated Matter, Anne Youngson
Avalon, Nell Zink
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Goodness. I haven’t read anything like all of these. Ones that I have read and wouldn’t have put on the list include Nightcrawling and The Night Ship, though I did enjoy both. Happy to see both Joan and (inevitably) the Marriage Portrait there.
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I’ve only read a handful myself (and not even all of my ‘wishes’). It’s just a matter of keeping my eyes and ears open for what’s been making a splash and what seem like the kind of books the Prize likes to recognise. Have you read Joan? I’m keen but haven’t been able to find it.
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I got it from the library the second it appeared(the benefits of volunteering!). I see I gave it 4* on Goodreads, and the last few words of my review are ‘ …attention to pictorial and emotional detail, this tale carries you along and gives a convincing picture of France under often terrifying English rule at the time. It’s worth reading for that alone.’
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Sounds fantastic! Alas, my library doesn’t own it. If it is indeed longlisted, they’ll buy it, so fingers crossed.
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Your wishes and predictions are so different! My wishes are only in my head for now but a few from both your lists are likely to appear on mine.
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My favourites rarely make it through. I’ve tried to be realistic about the kinds of authors and books that tend to be nominated, whether they appeal to me or not. Last year I was lucky to get 3 right from across my lists!
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And I keep finding books I didn’t include: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, The Sharing Economy by Sophie Berrebi, My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig, Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks, Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs, Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery, The Silence Project by Carole Hailey, Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh, On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel, Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin…
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It will be interesting to see the result. I’m in the middle of Demon Copperhead, and I liked The Weather Woman too, but I have not read any of the others. Yes to a nonfiction prize!
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How are you enjoying Demon Copperhead?
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I really want to like Celeste Ng’s work (she’s a Cleveland native, like me), but I read Little Fires and was unimpressed, found all the characters unlikeable and not in an interesting/challenging way. If this latest one doesn’t measure up, I think I’ll pass. I will be interested to hear what you think of the Rebecca Makkai. I just started following her Substack (I could spend my whole day on there!) and she’s very smart and funny.
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I enjoyed Ng’s first two novels, especially Little Fires, but this one was too obvious. I made it one of my predictions because the WP likes timely themes (here: state oppression, censorship, racial violence, children being separated from their parents) in novels by BIPOC.
I’ve loved a couple of Makkai’s previous novels. I have literally only read the first two pages of her new one so far, but Laura’s review reinforced my high expectations: https://drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/metoo-and-metoo-i-have-some-questions-for-you-by-rebecca-makkai/
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Oh wow, yes, great review. On my list!
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Wow, that’s a lot of work, well done on pulling it all together!
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It was a fun bookish procrastination activity for me.
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I look at this post and I think, “Sigh, so many books I want to get to!” I need to clone myself or something to get all the desired reading in. I just selected Camp Zero for our branch as one of the 30 monthly titles I get to choose. The Great Reclamation and Maame also look so good.
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Ooh, you have the power 😉 Camp Zero is a great one for fans of Station Eleven. I have Maame on reserve through the library.
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Library ordering committees select the vast majority of our books but those 30 are a precious opportunity for me. It’s so challenging because I have to balance what I think our regular patrons will want with trying to get a little bit of everything and also wanting to support new and more diverse voices. Camp Zero sounds great. I wanted to get The Great Reclamation too this time but it didn’t make the cut.
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Thanks for sharing! I always love to read people’s Women’s Prize predictions – such a fun time of year. I loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow so would love to see it make the list!
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Thanks for visiting! I feel like it’s a shoo-in, but that probably means I’ll be wrong.
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I’ll be so interested to see what makes it! Would be shocked if the Zevin didn’t…
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Me too, but then again, I don’t have a great track record for predicting the nominees or eventual winner…
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It’s always so dependent on the judges in any given year!
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I 100% think they might pass over the Zevin. I absolutely adored it, as you know, but it doesn’t scream Women’s Prize to me. Hope I am wrong!
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Ooh, do you reckon? That would be a travesty. (Though we know the WP is not above travesties.)
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I just don’t trust them any more! Fingers crossed though 🤞
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I’m sure we’ll have some outrageous omissions and inclusions!
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Predictably I haven’t read any of these, though I have Trespasses on my kindle. I am always fascinated however to find out what is on the list.
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Susan (A life in books) rates it highly. A few of these ideas came primarily from her reviews. How are you doing with your Women’s Prize reading project?
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Ha, well I think that has fallen by the wayside. I still have my page for it on my blog, but it is very out of date.
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I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find Trespasses on the list – a remarkable novel. The Eleanor Catton hasn’t been published yet has it?
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The Catton comes out in early March — books published by the 31st are eligible.
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I really enjoy this type post! My thoughts: Maame, reviewing Monday, possible. A few others include Maggie O’Farell and Barbara Kingsolver are on my TBA still
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Thanks! Did you enjoy Maame? I’ve been looking forward to it.
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Review Monday!
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OOOOO just added a TON. Thank you for this pos t.
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Yay, that’s what I like to hear! 🙂
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Such a great post, Rebecca! I think your predictions are very good but sadly they’ve reminded me why I don’t want to follow the WP this year – such an unexciting list! I much prefer your wishlist.
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Thanks! It’s always an internal struggle between what I think they should recognise … and what they probably will. I agree, I have little interest in reading all but a couple of my predictions. We’ll see if the longlist announcement puts any novels on my TBR. Would you consider reading a few new-to-you titles at that point if they appeal?
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Yep, I’d read anything the Prize brings to my attention if it sounds good! Just finished A Spell of Good Things BTW and I agree, it’s a shoo-in.
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You’ve been doing a lot of reading to have such a long predictions and wish lists. I haven’t read a fraction of those books, although I have read a few and a few more are in my stack.
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I’ve not read a fraction of them either 🙂 I kept an ongoing list of UK releases of novels by women from the eligibility period and made my selections from that. Most of my ‘wishes’ are books I’ve read or plan to read, though.
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Oh, okay.
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Wow what a fantastic list you’ve curated!! So many I hope to see on the long list and hope to read! Xx
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Thanks for visiting!
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So great to see the list of 99 extras, I never know what’s on the nominations, thank you for adding that.
I would love to see Seven Steeples by Sara Baume and Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor make the cut, I have read Catton’s cross -genre novel Birnam Wood but wasn’t wowed by it. It will be interesting to see which way the judges go, with the familiar names versus the new. Looking forward to the announcement!
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It’s always difficult to strike a balance between bestsellers and literary titles; debut authors and repeat appearances. No doubt I’ll kick myself over what I should have included and didn’t. I have been hearing mixed things about Birnam Wood.
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[…] It’s timely, daring, intelligent, enthralling storytelling. Susan (review here) and I are both hoping to see this make the Women’s Prize longlist next […]
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There’s very little overlap between your two lists. I like your wishlist best because it includes some Canadian authors! 🙂
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That’s true, 3 of them! Even though I haven’t read Fight Night yet.
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Such a good group of guesses with several I’m hoping to see on there too! And so interesting the distinctions between your predictions and wish list.
Kingsolver and Zevin’s novels are favourites so I really hope they get some more attention (even though there is already a lot of love for both of them amongst readers.)
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Thanks, Eric! My copy of Birnam Wood just arrived today and I’ll have to see what I think — maybe had I read it earlier it would have been a wish as well. I think Kingsolver has a very good chance of being long- and shortlisted as her books have been WP favourites before (and so of course she gets a ‘free pass’ for the publisher submissions).
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Funnily enough, after reading Birnam Wood I removed it from my wish list and my predictions list. I’m very curious to hear what you think of it!
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[…] evening the Women’s Prize longlist was announced.** Of my predictions, 4 were correct, which is pretty good going for me. I got none of my personal wishes, however. Of […]
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