The longlist for this year's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction has now been revealed, and there are several firm ELLE favourites amongst them.

Now in its 19th year, celebrating powerful writing by inspirational women is the backbone of the prize. This year, the panel of judges - Mary Beard, Denise Mina, Helen Fraser, Caitlin Moran and Sophie Raworth – has outdone themselves. There are an impressive number of debut novels on the list, including Hannah Kent for Burial Rites, Fatima Bhutto for The Shadow of the Crescent Moon and MJ Carter for The Strangler Vine. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose TED talk on Feminism was sampled by Beyonce in ***Flawless, is listed for Americanah, and Donna Tartt’s doorstop of a novel, The Goldfinch (an ELLE Team favourite) appears, and Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, having already bagged the Man Booker, is a hot favourite.

But if you’re struggling with which of these brilliant books to dive into first, we’ll let you in on a secret. From the May issue of ELLE, out April 3, we will be launching a ground-breaking partnership with the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. Watch out for the ELLE Book Club, which will see a panel select a must-read novel each month, providing talking points from the author, plus exclusive writing from some of the world’s best female voices. Start clearing shelf space now.

Longlist:

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Maddaddam, Margaret Atwood

The Dogs of Littlefield, Suzanne Berne

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, Fatima Bhutto

The Bear, Claire Cameron

Eleven Days, Lea Carpenter

The Strangler Vine, M.J. Carter

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Reasons She Goes to the Woods, Deborah Kay Davies

The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert

Burial Rites, Hannah Kent

The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner

The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri

The Undertaking, Audrey Magee

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, Eimear McBride

Almost English, Charlotte Mendelson

Still Life With Bread Crumbs, Anna Quindlen

The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

All the Birds, Singing, Evie Wyld