Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction Short List

Posted by lisathatcher on April 8, 2014 in Articles | Leave a comment

Shortlisted: (clockwise from top left) Donna Tartt, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Hannah Kent, Eimear McBride and Audrey Magee

The short list has been announced for the Bailey’s Prize For Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) and the list is very impressive, all the more when you see whodidn’t make the leap from the long list:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah

Hannah Kent – Burial Rites

Jhumpa Lahiri – The Lowland

Audrey Magee – The Undertaking

Eimear McBride – A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing

Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch

These five books edged out both Margaret Atwood (Maddaddam) and Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries which won the 2013 Booker Prize.

I have a very busy reading schedule in April, but I will try to get as many of these read before June 4th, as this selection is always a fantastic read and well worth paying attention to. I’ve never read any Donna Tartt, so I think that might be the perfect place to start.

Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014 judges: (from left) Denise Mina, Sophie Raworth, Helen Fraser (chair), Mary Beard and Caitlin Moran