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| Golden Hill wins Francis Spufford third major prize in a year | Golden Hill wins Francis Spufford third major prize in a year |
| (7 months later) | |
| Roistering tale of New York in its infancy adds £10,000 Desmond Elliott prize to the Costa first novel and Ondaatje awards it has already clinched | |
| Danuta Kean | |
| Wed 21 Jun 2017 19.15 BST | |
| Last modified on Wed 20 Sep 2017 10.30 BST | |
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| Francis Spufford’s “extraordinarily accomplished” Golden Hill has scored a hat-trick, winning the Desmond Elliott prize for debut novels. It is the book’s third major award this year, after scooping the Costa first novel award and the Ondaatje prize for books with a sense of place. | Francis Spufford’s “extraordinarily accomplished” Golden Hill has scored a hat-trick, winning the Desmond Elliott prize for debut novels. It is the book’s third major award this year, after scooping the Costa first novel award and the Ondaatje prize for books with a sense of place. |
| Announcing the winner of the £10,000 award, chair of judges and literary editor Sam Leith said: “It is an extraordinarily accomplished book. A work of technical virtuosity that ranges from being astoundingly well-structured right down to its wonderful sentences.” He also praised Spufford for “the ability he displays of having in mind a 21st-century reader while keeping true to the 18th-century idiom. That is incredible.” | Announcing the winner of the £10,000 award, chair of judges and literary editor Sam Leith said: “It is an extraordinarily accomplished book. A work of technical virtuosity that ranges from being astoundingly well-structured right down to its wonderful sentences.” He also praised Spufford for “the ability he displays of having in mind a 21st-century reader while keeping true to the 18th-century idiom. That is incredible.” |
| Spufford emerged from a strong shortlist for the prize, which is one of the most significant for first-time novelists. Alongside Golden Hill were Kit de Waal’s My Name Is Leon and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s Harmless Like You. But ultimately the 53-year-old creative writing lecturer won because, Leith said: “It’s a book you can read for pure entertainment and he has not let his cleverness and literary virtuosity get in the way of having fun with it.” | Spufford emerged from a strong shortlist for the prize, which is one of the most significant for first-time novelists. Alongside Golden Hill were Kit de Waal’s My Name Is Leon and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s Harmless Like You. But ultimately the 53-year-old creative writing lecturer won because, Leith said: “It’s a book you can read for pure entertainment and he has not let his cleverness and literary virtuosity get in the way of having fun with it.” |
| Telling the sprawling tale of Mr Smith, a hero who could have stepped out of a Henry Fielding novel, Golden Hill is set New York in 1746, a time when the germinating metropolis was little more than a village bordered by ocean and dense forest. Leith said the book was “at once so fabulously entertaining, so exquisitely wrought and so moving that it stands among not just the best first novels of the year, but the best novels of this or any year”. | Telling the sprawling tale of Mr Smith, a hero who could have stepped out of a Henry Fielding novel, Golden Hill is set New York in 1746, a time when the germinating metropolis was little more than a village bordered by ocean and dense forest. Leith said the book was “at once so fabulously entertaining, so exquisitely wrought and so moving that it stands among not just the best first novels of the year, but the best novels of this or any year”. |
| Leith, who was joined on the judging panel by award-winning author Kamila Shamsie and specialist book buyer for WHSmith Iain Rushworth, praised the other books on the shortlist, which were “terrific” and, he said, reflected a longlist that revealed the strength, diversity and quality of contemporary debut novels. | Leith, who was joined on the judging panel by award-winning author Kamila Shamsie and specialist book buyer for WHSmith Iain Rushworth, praised the other books on the shortlist, which were “terrific” and, he said, reflected a longlist that revealed the strength, diversity and quality of contemporary debut novels. |
| Leith also took the occasion to highlight the issues faced by debut novelists in a crowded market. Describing first fiction as a “cheap investment” for many publishers, and likening it to a lottery ticket he added: “The fact is that most first novels go unreviewed, barely promoted, seldom displayed in bookshops, unbought and unread. Many singular talents wither on the vine.” | Leith also took the occasion to highlight the issues faced by debut novelists in a crowded market. Describing first fiction as a “cheap investment” for many publishers, and likening it to a lottery ticket he added: “The fact is that most first novels go unreviewed, barely promoted, seldom displayed in bookshops, unbought and unread. Many singular talents wither on the vine.” |
| Lamenting the “old days in which careers would be patiently nurtured”, he said first novelists were increasingly dependent upon prizes like the Desmond Elliott, which promotes authors longlisted for the award, to ensure they progressed to second and third works. | Lamenting the “old days in which careers would be patiently nurtured”, he said first novelists were increasingly dependent upon prizes like the Desmond Elliott, which promotes authors longlisted for the award, to ensure they progressed to second and third works. |
| “It is very difficult for a first time novelists who has a promising debut but will go on to write a brilliant third novel if they do not do much in terms of sales or prizes,” he said. “A prize like this helps put them on the map.” | “It is very difficult for a first time novelists who has a promising debut but will go on to write a brilliant third novel if they do not do much in terms of sales or prizes,” he said. “A prize like this helps put them on the map.” |
| The prize is named after literary agent and publisher Desmond Elliott, who was known for his commitment to nurturing new authors. Now in its 10th year, previous recipients include Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies, which also won the Bailey women’s prize for fiction, as well as Claire Fuller, Eimear McBride, Grace McCleen and Anjali Joseph. | The prize is named after literary agent and publisher Desmond Elliott, who was known for his commitment to nurturing new authors. Now in its 10th year, previous recipients include Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies, which also won the Bailey women’s prize for fiction, as well as Claire Fuller, Eimear McBride, Grace McCleen and Anjali Joseph. |
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