2006 Man Booker Prize Longlist Predictions

Chimamanda Adichie took the publishing world by storm with her first novel, Purple Hibiscus.  Half of a Yellow Sun is her second novel, and takes place in Nigeria during a bloody civil war.  This novel is already being compared with seminal African works by Chinua Achebe and V.S. Naipaul.

In 2003, Monica Ali thrilled readers with her debut novel, Brick Lane, and surprised Booker watchers when it was included on the Booker shortlist. Alentejo Blue is her much-awaited second novel, and it is a very different sort of book from Brick Lane . It follows the lives of a handful of interesting characters living in the Alentejo region of Portugal , and while it does not bristle with the energy of Brick Lane , it is infused with intelligence and beautiful writing.

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Five Amber Beads is the story of an art historian in London who is working on his family's history during the Holocaust, and of an old man in New York City who is found unconscious on the pavement.  The stories of these two men are intertwined in a first novel that has been praised by both John Sutherland and DJ Taylor, former Booker Prize judges.

The Naming of Eliza Quinn

by Carol Birch

Carol Birch released The Naming of Eliza Quinn in November 2005. It is the story of an American woman who discovers the bones of a small child in a hole in a tree in the backyard of a cottage she has inherited in Ireland . The novel is an engaging, atmospheric tale.

Carol Birch was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003 for her novel, Turn Again Home.

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Restless is the story of Ruth Gilmartin and her mother Sally.  One day in 1976, Ruth discovers that her mother is really Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigre who worked for the British Secret Service during the second World War. 

William Boyd was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1982 for An Ice-Cream War, and was longlisted in 2002 for Any Human Heart .

Peter Carey's new novel, Theft: A Love Story, was released in May 2005 to mixed reviews. It seems as if there is more press surrounding the scandal alleged by his ex-wife, Alison Summers. She feels that the character of “The Plaintiff” in the novel was modeled after her and will turn her grandchildren against her someday. Carey's novel does seem to be more of an ill-directed rant than a well-thought out and beautifully written novel.  Still, it seems unlikely that the judges will exclude the two-time Booker Prize winner.

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This much anticipated epic novel of Indian gangsters could mark the author's first nomination for the Booker Prize.

Roddy Doyle's new novel resurrects an old character from his previous novel, The Woman Who Walked into Doors, the eponymous Paula Spencer. In this novel, Paula is ten years older, forty-nine, and has been sober for over four months. The novel follows her as she worries about her children and the globalization that seems to threaten everything from jobs to family vacations.

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In November 2005, John Fuller published Flawed Angel, a fable about a rich man who raises a creature that is half beast and half boy as his son. This novel was published to critical acclaim, most notably from A.S. Byatt.

John Fuller was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1983 for Flying to Nowhere .

This brilliant debut is reminiscent of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith.  Bessy Buckley stumbles upon employment at the home of her mistress Arabella outside of Edinburgh, and is perplexed by the various odd demands that are made of her.  Bessy is a gloriously funny heroine, similar to Moll Flanders.  It is an engrossing first novel.

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Synopsis:

On 21 July 1969, two astronauts set foot on the moon; far below, in ravaged Mozambique, a young revolutionary, hailed as the saviour of his country, is murdered by a parcel bomb. From these two unconnected events, Simon Ings has woven a great and glittering web.

Synopsis:

Londonstani, Gautam Malkani's electrifying debut, reveals a Britain that has never before been explored in the novel: a country of young Asians and white boys (desis and goras) trying to work out a place for themselves in the shadow of the divergent cultures of their parent's generation. Set close to the Heathrow feed roads of Hounslow, Malkani shows us the lives of a gang of four young men: Hardjit the ring leader, a Sikh, violent, determined his caste stay pure; Ravi, determinedly tactless, a sheep following the herd; Amit, whose brother Arun is struggling to win the approval of his mother for the Hindu girl he has chosen to marry; and Jas who tells us of his journey with these three, desperate to win their approval, desperate too for Samira, a Muslim girl, which in this story can only have bad consequences. Together they cruise the streets in Amit's enhanced Beemer, making a little money changing the electronic fingerprints on stolen mobile phones, a scam that leads them into more dangerous waters. Funny, crude, disturbing, written in the vibrant language of its protagonists - a mix of slang, Bollywood, texting, Hindu and bastardised gangsta rap - Londonstani is about many things: tribalism, aggressive masculinity, integration, cross-cultural chirpsing techniques, the urban scene seeping into the mainstream, bling bling economics, 'complicated family-related shit'. It is one of the most surprising British novels of recent years.

Winterwood

by Patrick McCabe

Patrick McCabe's new novel, Winterwood, will be released in September 2006. Winterwood is described as a “place of dreams and mystery,” and appears to be a bit of a departure from McCabe's usual work.

Patrick McCabe was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The Butcher Boy in 1992, and for Breakfast on Pluto in 1998. Both novels were made into movies directed by Neil Jordan.

Black Swan Green is David Mitchell's fourth novel, and is a more traditional coming-of-age story than the literary pyrotechnics he produced in Ghostwritten, number9dream, and Cloud Atlas. The novel follows Jason Taylor during 13 months of his 13th year, as he navigates the precarious terrain of being an adolescent stutterer in the small town of Black Swan Green. While Jason has trouble expressing himself verbally, as a narrator he is sagacious, witty, and endearing. There is not much that escapes his unassuming yet discerning gaze, from his parents' marital problems, to the Falklands War, to the town's growing employment problems. This is Mitchell's most accessible work to date. The TurboBookSnob felt that he deserved the Booker for Cloud Atlas. Perhaps this is the novel that will appear to both the masses and the literati?

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Edna O'Brien's new novel, The Light of Evening, tells the tale of a dying mother and her daughter, a writer who has recently experienced a messy divorce. As they both cope with the mother's Ovarian cancer, they reflect on their lives in both Ireland and America.

Edna O'Brien was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2003 for her novel, In the Forest . Her novel, Wild Decembers, is a wonderfully Brontean glimpse of life in rural Ireland through the eyes of two siblings.

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Andrew O'Hagan's new novel, Be Near Me, tells the poignant and disturbing story of an English priest who takes on a Scottish parish later in life. The priest, perhaps unwisely, befriends several troubled youth of the parish, and as he spends time with them, reflects on his early years in Oxford and Rome. To be fair, the TurboBookSnob has not yet read all of the potential Booker candidates so far, however she is prepared to venture that this should be the 2006 Booker Prize winner. The writing is consistently gorgeous, and the entire book is so beautifully done that it is difficult to put down.

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DBC Pierre's anxiously awaited second novel, Ludmila's Broken English, contains two linked narrative threads. The first thread follows recently separated conjoined twins, Blair and Bunny Heath, as they navigate their newly formed adult life, replete with drinking, debauchery, and dubious employment opportunities. The second thread centers around a young woman named Ludmila, living in poverty in the Caucasus solely on her grandfather's pension. Ludmila's life changes when, after her grandfather attempts to force himself upon her, she kills him and consequently, kills her whole family's meager meal ticket. Ludmila must now try to secure a living for her family. Pierre's wild and active narrative eventually connects these characters in an improbable conclusion.

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Mother's Milk is a wonderfully funny and satirical novel about family relationships, centered around the Melrose family, which was first featured in Aubyn's trilogy Some Hope.

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Kept: A Victorian Mystery

by DJ Taylor

The TurboBookSnob hopes that Alan Warner's new novel, The Worms Can Carry Me to Heaven, will secure him a spot in the Booker Prize longlist – it seems astonishing that he has not been nominated by now! His new novel follows Manolo Follano, a 40-year-old Spanish man, around his town as he recollects his life in the wake of receiving the news that he is HIV Positive.

Alan Warner was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award in 1995 for his novel Morvern Callar .

The Night Watch is Sarah Waters' first foray out of the Victorian era into another time period, and it showcases her prodigious talent. The novel begins in 1947, and moves backwards in time twice, following the interconnected lives of four people living in London during the Blitz and in the aftermath of WWII. Helen works at a matchmaking agency and lives in secret with her love, the novelist Julia. Viv works with Helen, and strives to maintain a façade of perfection to deflect unwarranted attention into her private life. Kay drives an ambulance and in her off hours, searches the streets of London for potential love affairs. Duncan lives with a man he calls Uncle Horace, whom he shepherds once a week to a faith healer modeled after Mary Baker Eddy. He, too, guards many secrets.

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