It's that time of the year again! I think the Bailey's Prize is my favourite literary award- there is always so much variety and depth to the eventual shortlist that it always makes for a thought provoking and enjoyable spring hunkering down to get them all finished. There's always something to love and something to discover on the Bailey's shortlist, always an author you'll resolve to keep an eye out for in future and always something you would otherwise never have found.
I've not spent ages agonising over this list, because at the end of the day it's impossible to tell what will get chosen. There's always an absolute avalanche of amazing fiction every year, and it's a brilliant problem to be faced with really; there's just too much good stuff to read. My predictions are assembled from books I've read and enjoyed, books I've got waiting to be read that I've heard great things about, books that I *want* to read very soon and a couple that just seem likely to be included on any longlist for which they are eligible.
A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson
The Private Life of Mrs Sharma, by Ratika Kapur
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
Fates and Furies, by Lauren groff
Rush, Oh! by Shirley Barrett
Things We Have in Common, by Tasha Kavanagh
Early on Morning, by Virginia Bailey
Girl at War, by Sara Novic
The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O'Brien
the BUtcher's Hook, by Janet Ellis
The Ballroom, by Anna Hope
In A Land of Paper Gods, by Rebecca MacKenzie
The Mountain Can Wait, by Sarah Leipciger
The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth McKenzie
Jakob's Colours, by Lindsay Hawdon
Under The Udala Trees, by Chinelo Okparanta
So let's see! The longlist is announced on Tuesday 8th March via the Prize's website here: Bailey's Prize Website
Now's the good bit. We wait, we speculate, we predict...we read!
Are there any books that you absolutely are convinced will be on the list? Any that I've predicted that you really didn't like? What's your wishlist/predictions?
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