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 Tartts doorstop of a novel, The Goldfinch (an ELLE Team favourite) appears, and Eleanor Cattons The Luminaries, having already bagged the Man Booker, is a hot favourite.
But if youre struggling with which of these brilliant books to dive into first, well 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 Baileys Womens 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 worlds 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