Last night, the Booker Prize judges announced the shortlist of 6 books that would be competing to win the prestigious prize for English language literature. Picked from over 150 titles published after October 1st 2024, these books have been called “brilliantly human”, and according to Chair of Judges Roddy Doyle, “All, somehow, examine identity, individual or national, and all, I think, are gripping and excellent.”
Three women and three men are shortlisted – the first equal gender split since 2022, and three out of the six authors are American (Susan Choi, Katie Kitamura and Ben Markovits). The other three hail from Britain (Andrew Miller), Hungary (David Szalay, identifying as Hungarian-British) and India (Kiran Desai). If Kiran Desai wins the Booker Prize, we will have seen a clean sweep for India in regards to Booker Prizes this year, after Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi took home the International Booker for Heart Lamp. Furthermore, Desai, a previous winner of the Booker prize (with a three-time Booker shortlisted mother), will join Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel as the third female double winner, making up a quintet along with the two male double winners Peter Carey and J. M. Coetzee. Only one indie publisher, Faber, publishing The Rest of Our Lives, features on the Booker shortlist, in comparison to the International Booker, which boasted all six being from indies. Instead, Penguin Random House holds the monopoly, with itself and imprints publishing four of the six titles.
So….what are these six books?
Flashlight – Susan Choi
What is it about?
Louisa’s father mysteriously disappears while the two are taking a walk in a coastal Japanese town. As Louisa and her mother move to the US, the story of his death starts to unravel, unfolding across time and space from the Korean post-war immigrant community in Japan, to suburban America, to North Korea.
What did the judges say?
“In this ambitious book that deftly criss-crosses continents and decades, Susan Choi balances historical tensions and intimate dramas with remarkable elegance. We admired the shifts and layers of Flashlight’s narrative, which ultimately reveal a story that is intricate, surprising, and profound.”
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny – Kiran Desai
What is it about?
Sonia and Sunny, previously a failed matchmaking attempt, run into each other time and time again as they struggle to make a place for themselves in the world. Sonia, an aspiring novelist, is haunted by a figure from her past while journalist Sunny flees his warring clan. In this 650-page epic, they cling to each other for happiness, but also confront alienation and uncertainty.
What did the judges say?
“This novel about Indians in America becomes one about westernised Indians rediscovering their country, and in some ways a novel about the Indian novel’s place in the world. We loved the way in which no detail, large or small, seems to escape Desai’s attention, every character (in a huge cast) feels fully realised, and the writing moves with consummate fluency between an array of modes: philosophical, comic, earnest, emotional, and uncanny.”
Audition – Katie Kitamura
What is it about?
An accomplished actress meets a man young enough to be her son in a Manhattan restaurant for lunch. Two competing narratives unspool as we ask who they could be to each other and question our understanding of the roles we play every day.
What did the judges say?
“Aside from the extraordinarily honed quality of its sentences, the remarkable thing about Audition is the way it persists in the mind after reading, like a knot that feels tantalisingly close to coming free. Denying us the resolution we instinctively crave from stories, Kitamura takes Chekhov’s dictum – that the job of the writer is to ask questions, not answer them – and runs with it, presenting a puzzle, the solution to which is undoubtedly obscure, and might not even exist at all.”
The Rest of Our Lives – Ben Markovits
What is it about?
Twelve years after his wife’s infidelity and with nothing else to stay for, Tom Layward takes a detour after dropping his youngest child at university, to visit the shadows of his past, destination – perhaps? His father’s grave.
What did the judges say?
“a remarkably satisfying road trip full of strangers, friends, and self-discovery. It’s clear author Ben Markovits has spent time teaching. This novel speaks like a much-loved professor, one whose classes have a terribly long waitlist. It’s matter of fact, effortlessly warm, and it uses the smallest parts of human behaviour to uphold bigger themes, like mortality, sickness, and love. The Rest of Our Lives is a novel of sincerity and precision. We found it difficult to put it down.”
The Land in Winter – Andrew Miller
What is it about?
December 1962. A doctor and doctor’s wife, and a farmer and farmer’s wife befriend and clash in a small Somerset village. When the winter turns harsh and they have nothing but each other, their lives begin to unravel.
What did the judges say?
“As a winter storm wreaks havoc on their lives, these characters become pivotal figures in a community precariously balanced between history and future: between the damage wrought by the war and the freedom for women that lies ahead. In beautifully atmospheric prose, Andrew Miller brings suspense and mystery to this seemingly inconsequential chapter in British history.”
Flesh – David Szalay
What is it about?
Istvan, a 15 year old boy new to a Hungarian town, begins a clandestine relationship he hardly understands with his neighbour, a woman the same age as his mother. As he grows up, his impulse for money, intimacy and power propels him into the company of the London super-rich, until it threatens to destroy him utterly.
What did the judges say?
“In many ways István is stereotypically masculine – physical, impulsive, barely on speaking terms with his own feelings (and for much of the novel barely speaking: he must rank among the more reticent characters in literature). But somehow, using only the sparest of prose, this hypnotically tense and compelling book becomes an astonishingly moving portrait of a man’s life.”
The winner will be announced on the 10th of November, and they will receive a £50,000 prize.
