This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve made predictions for the Women’s Prize longlist (the real thing comes out on Tuesday, 6 p.m. GMT). It shows how invested I’ve become in this prize in recent years. Like I did last year, I’ll give predictions, then wishes (no overlap this time!). My wishes are based on what I have already read and want to read. Although I kept tabs on publishers and ‘free entries’ for previous winners and shortlistees, I didn’t let quotas determine my selections. And while I kept in mind that there are two novelists on the judging panel, I don’t know enough about any of these judges’ taste to be able to tailor my predictions. My only thought was that they will probably appreciate good old-fashioned storytelling … but also innovative storytelling.
(There are two books – The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey (= Joanna Cannon?) and Jaded by Ela Lee (this year’s Queenie) – that I only heard about as I was preparing this post and seem pretty likely, but I felt that it would be cheating for me to include them.)
Predictions
The Three of Us, Ore Agbaje-Williams
The Future, Naomi Alderman
The Storm We Made, Vanessa Chan
Penance, Eliza Clark
The Wren, The Wren, Anne Enright
A House for Alice, Diana Evans
Piglet, Lottie Hazell
Pineapple Street, Jenny Jackson
Yellowface, R. F. Kuang
Biography of X, Catherine Lacey
Julia, Sandra Newman
The Vulnerables, Sigrid Nunez
Tom Lake, Ann Patchett
In Memory of Us, Jacqueline Roy
The Fraud, Zadie Smith
Land of Milk and Honey, C. Pam Zhang
Wish List
Family Lore, Elizabeth Acevedo
The Sleep Watcher, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
The Unfortunates, J. K. Chukwu
The Three Graces, Amanda Craig
Learned by Heart, Emma Donoghue
Service, Sarah Gilmartin
The Vaster Wilds, Lauren Groff
Reproduction, Louisa Hall
Happiness Falls, Angie Kim
Bright Young Women, Jessica Knoll
A Sign of Her Own, Sarah Marsh
The Fetishist, Katherine Min
Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano
Mrs S, K Patrick
Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld
Absolutely and Forever, Rose Tremain
If I’m lucky, I’ll get a few right from across these two lists; no doubt I’ll be kicking myself over the ones I considered but didn’t include, and marvelling at the ones I’ve never heard of…
What would you like to see on the longlist?
Appendix
(A further 50 novels that were on my radar but didn’t make the cut. Like last year, I made things easy for myself by keeping an ongoing list of eligible novels in a file on my desktop.)
Everything Is Not Enough, Lola Akinmade Akerstrom
The Wind Knows My Name, Isabel Allende
Swanna in Love, Jennifer Belle
The Sisterhood, Katherine Bradley
The Fox Wife, Yangsze Choo
The Guest, Emma Cline
Speak to Me, Paula Cocozza
Talking at Night, Claire Daverley
Clear, Carys Davies
Bellies, Nicola Dinan
The Happy Couple, Naoise Dolan
In Such Tremendous Heat, Kehinde Fadipe
The Memory of Animals, Claire Fuller
Anita de Monte Laughs Last, Xochitl Gonzalez
Normal Women, Ainslie Hogarth
Sunburn, Chloe Michelle Howarth
Loot, Tania James
The Half Moon, Mary Beth Keane
Morgan Is My Name, Sophie Keetch
Soldier Sailor, Claire Kilroy
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster, Mirinae Lee
August Blue, Deborah Levy
Winter Animals, Ashani Lewis
Rosewater, Liv Little
The Couples, Lauren Mackenzie
Tell Me What I Am, Una Mannion
She’s a Killer, Kirsten McDougall
The Misadventures of Margaret Finch, Claire McGlasson
Nightbloom, Peace Adzo Medie
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, Lorrie Moore
The Lost Wife, Susanna Moore
Okay Days, Jenny Mustard
Parasol against the Axe, Helen Oyeyemi
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, Soraya Palmer
The Lodgers, Holly Pester
Night Wherever We Go, Tracey Rose Peyton
The Mars House, Natasha Pulley
Playing Games, Huma Qureshi
Come and Get It, Kiley Reid
High Time, Hannah Rothschild
Commitment, Mona Simpson
Death of a Bookseller, Alice Slater
Bird Life, Anna Smail
Stealing, Margaret Verble
Help Wanted, Adelle Waldman
Temper, Phoebe Walker
Hang the Moon, Jeannette Walls
Moral Injuries, Christie Watson
Ghost Girl, Banana, Wiz Wharton
Speak of the Devil, Rose Wilding
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Interesting! I’ve only done a wishlist this year because I didn’t even know where to start with the predictions, but my wishlist looks much closer to your predictions list than your wishlist… I did toy with putting the Donoghue on, but decided against it, so I think the only title our wishlists have in common is the Knoll. I’m surprised not to see Patchett on your wishlist?
Predictions wise, I’d be delighted but surprised to see Alderman on there. I know she’s a previous winner but I think it’s too SF for the WP. It would also be very weird to longlist Groff for The Vaster Wilds but not for the more WP-friendly (and better IMO) Matrix. I pray Yellowface doesn’t make it on as it’s so overrated, but agree with you that it’s a possibility.
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I read Tom Lake on a plane ride and it was lovely but instantly forgettable. I’d be happy to see Patchett nominated nonetheless.
As for the rest … we shall see! And I’ll look out for your list.
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Oh heck. I’ve a lot of catching up to do. I’ve read several from your Appendix, but only two from the body of your post. The Sigrid Nunez and the Rose Tremain. I normally find Tremain reliably good, but I was disappointed in this, to the extent that I can’t remember it at all!
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I’m sure the actual longlist will have very little in common with my lists! If I get two right I’ll be pleased with myself.
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Your predictions sound quite plausible (somewhat depressingly so, in some cases). I’ve been more International Booker this year tbh, so haven’t followed closely.
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Yes, I’m expecting Pineapple Street to play the role of the (at least one) slightly trashy women’s fiction novel that gets nominated. The prize can be quite predictable in terms of highlighting ‘issues’ books.
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We overlap on a couple. I can’t believe I forgot The Vulnerables which I loved! Not long until we find out what the judges think. I’ll be very sorry not to see Clear, Held or Falling Animals on their list but not at all surprised.
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Indeed, Patchett and Zhang.
I’ve not read any of those three, but may well do later in the year from the library.
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I always think I keep up to date with reading new releases until I see lists like this! I have all crossed for Biography of X and Soldier Sailor, both of which I loved.
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I’ve only read about half of the ones I picked out, and not many from the supplementary list!
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I like your lists. I wonder if Alexis Wright’s new novel is eligible (Praiseworthy). I wonder if Catherine Leroux’s The Future (in translation from the French by Susan Ouriou) might catch international jurors’ attention. Did you have fun putting together these lists? I can see some fun in it, but also a LOT of work! heheh Definitely looking foward to seeing the (official) list too!
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The WP doesn’t consider anything in translation, alas, but Praiseworthy could well be a contender — I noted its Stella Prize nomination.
It wasn’t actually that much work, in that I kept an ongoing file on my desktop where I could add in titles as I came across them, and highlighted or put asterisks by the ones I preferred or thought most likely. Except I mostly worked on the file last year and forgot to do anything more with it until a couple of weeks ago…
It will be very interesting to compare the WP and Carol Shields lists, like last year. I will probably do so in a post on Saturday.
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I’d love to see Bright Young Women go far!
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I think it would be a perfect fit for the spirit of the prize.
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Sorry that (I think?) none of your wishlist made it!
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Alas, no! And I only got one prediction right, Anne Enright. I will probably read 4-5 of the nominees that I hadn’t heard of or didn’t know much about before.
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When is the cutoff date for books to be eligible? The List of Suspicious Things only came out last week. I’ve seen it all over Twitter ever since. I was astounded to see it in person at a bookshop in Nijmegen on Tuesday.
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The publication window was 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
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I got confused by what could be included but I think that’s because I read things like The Three of Us the month they came out through NetGalley but then they get talked about later. I am a bit disappointed by the actual list, though pleased Western Lane is on it.
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Is there anything you might target to read? The diversity stats are good, at least.
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