Being a judge for this year’s Women’s prize for fiction has been an honour and a huge responsibility: not least because it’s the one prize whose longlist always has me rushing to the bookshop. As a group of five very different readers, I and my fellow judges Louise Minchin, Bella Mackie, Irenosen Okojie and Tulip Siddiq set out to reflect and celebrate the breadth, skill and visionary quality of women’s writing. Our shortlist has humour, anger, empathy, courage, danger, suspense, joy. In terms of common themes, there is a need to find a voice for the unvoiced – from the ocean floor to a Renaissance palace. Most of all, there is urgency. Every one of these writers speaks – indeed shouts and sings – in a voice that is undeniably and wholeheartedly her own.
We were blown away by Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks. A young Black British woman growing up in 1970s London, Yamaye lives for the weekend when she goes clubbing and loses herself in music. There she meets Moose and finally feels on the edge of happiness, until their relationship is brutally cut short and Yamaye begins a journey of self-discovery. Past and present collide with explosive consequences. Ambitious, imaginative and singular, this novel is as relevant to today’s racial climate as the 1970s’, with dub music as a character in its own right. It’s an electric story of love, violence, loss and Black womanhood.
Also set in the 70s, but this time in Belfast, Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses sees a young Catholic woman fall in love with a Protestant married man. What makes it a quiet masterpiece is its utter conviction and evocation of emotion, time and place, with unexpected moments of humour while it sweeps towards its inevitable conclusion. Even though you know where it is heading, the ending offers a moment of such clarity and unsentimental connection that we were all moved to tears. Devastating and beautiful, there is not one false note.
A complete blast of a reimagining of David Copperfield, Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is about a young boy as he struggles to survive the US’s opioid crisis. Demon is the boy no one wants. He braves foster care, child labour, athletic success, addiction, disastrous love and debilitating loss. And yet, caught within a plot that never pauses for breath, he is like a cork on water; he keeps bouncing back. Angry, robust, in equal parts funny and desolate, this is epic storytelling. Not one of us could talk about Demon without smacking a hand against our hearts.
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris is a lyrical, devastating and timely love letter to war-torn Sarajevo. When fresh violence breaks out in the city, artist and teacher Zora sends her mother and husband to England for safety, believing she can continue her work. But as the city falls under siege, Zora and the people around her – most of whom she barely knows – find themselves cut off from their comforts, rights and the outside world. There are moments of shocking brutality set against others of unexpected beauty and resilience. Exquisitely crafted, it pulses with tension: we couldn’t stop turning the pages.
Sumptuous, richly detailed, chilling and ingenious, Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait boldly reveals from the start that its 15-year-old protagonist is going to be murdered. Set against the male power and politics of Renaissance Italy, this is the story of Lucrezia, a young woman with spirit and intelligence who is forced into a marriage and refuses to be subdued by her husband Alfonso, Duke of Ferrari. None of us could put this immaculate masterpiece down.
Ea, the protagonist of Pod by Laline Paull, is a spinner dolphin who has always felt an outsider. When tragedy strikes, she makes the ultimate sacrifice, leaving her pod behind to confront a terrifying ocean she does not know. Visceral, urgent, haunting – like being swept through water – this novel explores themes of family, consciousness, solitude, belonging and sacrifice. It’s a bold, blistering book that confronts the environmental crisis head on, and it’s also a searing feat of imagination. We were in complete awe.
These shortlisted novels contain exceptionally strong narratives and are compulsively readable. There is something here for everyone. But trust me: read all six.
• The winner of the 2023 Women’s prize for fiction will be announced on 14 June. To explore all the titles on the shortlist visit guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
