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Booker prize: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale sequel makes shortlist Booker prize: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale sequel makes shortlist
(32 minutes later)
The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s much-anticipated sequel to her feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale, has landed her a place on the Booker prize shortlist – despite the fact that barely anyone has read it yet.The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s much-anticipated sequel to her feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale, has landed her a place on the Booker prize shortlist – despite the fact that barely anyone has read it yet.
With little publicly known beyond that it is set more than 15 years after Atwood’s hero Offred escaped a theocratic future America, the plot of The Testaments remains under strict lock and key until its global release date on 10 September, with midnight launches and bookshop parties planned around the world. With little publicly known beyond that it is set more than 15 years after Atwood’s hero Offred escaped a theocratic future US, the plot of The Testaments remains under lock and key for most readers until its global release date on 10 September, with midnight launches and bookshop parties planned around the world.
Chair of judges and Hay festival director Peter Florence could not say more than describing it as a “savage and beautiful novel, and it speaks to us today, all around the world, with particular conviction and power.” Chair of judges and Hay festival director Peter Florence could not say more than that it is a “savage and beautiful novel, and it speaks to us today, all around the world, with particular conviction and power”.
When the book was longlisted for the £50,000 prize in July, the judges would only say: “Spoiler discretion and a ferocious non-disclosure agreement prevent any description of who, how, why and even where. So this: it’s terrifying and exhilarating.” This is the sixth Booker nomination for the Canadian author, who won the £50,000 literary prize in 2000 for The Blind Assassin.
Atwood is set to face off against another former winner: Salman Rushdie, who is nominated for Quichotte, a retelling of Cervantes’ Don Quixote set in modern day America. “If you are going to make a tilt at one of the greatest works of literature, you better hope you can play at Cervantes’ level,” Florence said, calling it “a hell of a ride.” When the book was longlisted in July, the judges would only say: “Spoiler discretion and a ferocious non-disclosure agreement prevent any description of who, how, why and even where. So this: it’s terrifying and exhilarating.”
The giant underdog of the shortlist is Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport, published by tiny, Norwich independent Galley Beggar Press. An 1,000-page monologue of an angst-ridden homemaker in Ohio, the British-American author’s book unfolds almost entirely in a single sentence spans love, loss and the state of the US. Atwood is set to face off against another former winner, Salman Rushdie, who is nominated for Quichotte, a retelling of Cervantes’ Don Quixote set in today’s US. “If you are going to make a tilt at one of the greatest works of literature, you better hope you can play at Cervantes’ level,” Florence said, calling it “a hell of a ride”.
British novelist Bernadine Evaristo is nominated for Girl, Woman, Other. Following 12 characters, most of them black British women, some stories overlapping to make widely about the connections that can be made between disparate humans. The giant underdog of the shortlist is Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport, published by tiny, Norwich independent Galley Beggar Press. A 1,000-page monologue of an angst-ridden homemaker in Ohio, the British-American author’s book unfolds in a single sentence and spans love, loss and the condition of the US.
Nigerian novelist Chigozie Obioma makes the shortlist for his novel An Orchestra of Minorities. Narrated by a chi, a guardian spirit in Igbo myth, the novel follows Nonso, an ambitious Nigerian graduate who becomes trapped in Cyprus after falling for an education scam. British novelist Bernardine Evaristo is nominated for Girl, Woman, Other. Following 12 characters, most of them black British women, the novel sees some stories overlapping to make connections between disparate humans. Judge and author Xiaolu Guo called it “impressive and fierce … there is never a single moment of dullness”.
Turkish novelist Elif Shafak is nominated for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. Described “audacious and dazzingly brilliant” by judge Liz Calder. Set in Istanbul, Shafak’s novel is set in the final moments – 10 minutes, 38 seconds – of a murdered sex worker’s life as her brain slowly shuts down. Nigerian novelist Chigozie Obioma makes the shortlist for An Orchestra of Minorities. Narrated by a chi, a guardian spirit in Igbo myth, the novel follows Nonso, an ambitious Nigerian graduate who becomes trapped in Cyprus after falling for an education scam. Judge and journalist Afua Hirsch “a crucial journey into a heartache that is both mythical and real”.
The winner will be annouced on 14 October at a ceremony in London. Turkish novelist Elif Shafak is nominated for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. It was described “audacious and dazzlingly brilliant” by judge Liz Calder. Set in Istanbul, the novel portrays in the final moments of a murdered sex worker’s life as her brain slowly shuts down.
The winner will be announced on 14 October at a ceremony in London.
The 2019 Booker prize shortlistThe 2019 Booker prize shortlist
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann (Galley Beggar Press)Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann (Galley Beggar Press)
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton), Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton)
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma (Little Brown) An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown)
Quichotte by Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape)Quichotte by Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape)
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak (Viking)10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak (Viking)
Booker prize 2019Booker prize 2019
Booker prizeBooker prize
Awards and prizesAwards and prizes
FictionFiction
Margaret AtwoodMargaret Atwood
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