Very few literary prizes have the power to significantly move the needle in terms of securing a larger readership for the books they champion. One of those is the Women’s prize for fiction, and therefore it has been a great responsibility and honour for me and my fellow judges – Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Laura Dockrill, Indira Varma and Anna Whitehouse – to select this year’s shortlist. It features six spellbinding and thought-provoking novels.
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape)
Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan (Viking)
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (Canongate)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (Jonathan Cape)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (Faber & Faber)
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure (Duckworth)
