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16 Women’s Prize For Fiction Longlist Books You Need In Your Book Tote In 2021
Have you read these yet?
If you're regularly ticking off your list of must-read books for 2021, then listen up.
The Women's Prize for Fiction longlist has finally been released, days after International Women’s Day on March 8, and we're more than ready to add some new books to the ever-growing pile on our bedside tables.
From books centred on family relationships, to the psyche of race and racial equality, grief, the secrets we harbour and how views may differ depending on life experiences, race and gender identity, we can't wait to start on the new longlist, which features both incredibly talent debut novelists and beloved authors we're excited to return to.
Celebrating the excellence and diversity of women’s voices from around the world, the new 2021 list includes a wide range of books from relatable tales for those in their twenties to all-encompassing, harrowing reads. Judges on this year's panel include Booker prize winner Bernadine Evaristo, journalist and podcaster Elizabeth Day, radio host Vick Hope, writer Nesrine Malik and broadcaster Sarah Jane Mee.
Support the sisterhood and take a look at the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist for 2021 below:
Because Of You - Dawn French
The beloved Vicar of Dibley and French and Saunders star returned to writing after her critically-acclaimed memoir Dear Fatty and several other books with this Sunday Times bestselling novel about motherhood, grief and truth, all written in French's signature wit.
Burnt Sugar - Avni Doshi
This Booker prize 2020 shortlisted debut novel chronicles Tara, an old woman who years before fled an arranged marriage and lived a very different life to the one planned for her. Now old, and with a daughter caring for her with whom she has a complex and fraught relationship, their truths unravel together.
Consent - Annabel Lyon
The book tells the story of two pairs of sisters; In each pairing, one sister is determined and extrovert, Saskia and Jennie and Sara and Mattie. But when both sisters have a life-altering experience, 'Sara and Saskia learn that both their sisters’ lives, and indeed their own, have been altered by the devastating actions of one man'.
Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters
Peter's debut novel is spoken through the lens of both trans and cis women, and speaks to relationships, family dynamics, motherhood, identity and more.
Exciting Times - Naoise Dolan
The Sunday Times bestseller's debut novel follows 22-year-old Ava on her gap year and all the tales and tribulations that ensue.
How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House - Cherie Jones
'The story of three marriages, and of a beautiful island paradise where, beyond the white sand beaches and the wealthy tourists, lies poverty, menacing violence and the story of the sacrifices some women make to survive,' the Women's Prize for Fiction bio reads.
Luster - Raven Leilani
Bronx-born writer Raven Leilani brings to life Edie, who is unfulfilled in a dead-end job in a all-white office and soon becomes embroiled with Eric, a white, middle aged married man in a 'sort-of' open relationship. Edie then gets to know his wife and their adopted Black daughter who has no one to show her how to do her hair. 'Edie finds herself falling head-first into Eric's home and family,' the book notes.
No One Is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
A novel for the digital age, No One Is Talking About This chronicles an adored social media influencer when she suddenly gets life-changing texts from her mum.
Nothing But Blue Sky - Kathleen MacMahon
Recently widowed David relives the 20 years he was married to his wife Mary Rose and examines their journey, her secrets and how well they really knew each other.
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
The Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell author is back with Piranesi. Who is Piranesi? Well we don't really know.
'Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides which thunder up staircases, the clouds which move in slow procession through the upper halls,' reads the book's description.
Intrigued?
Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers
Set in London in the 1950s, local newspaper journalist Jean is contacted by a woman claiming that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth. The investigation soon turns Clare's mundane life upside down.
Summer - Ali Smith
The final book in the seasonal quartet by Smith is Summer.'This is a story about people on the brink of change.They’re family, but they think they’re strangers. So: where does family begin? And what do people who think they’ve got nothing in common have in common?' reads the synopsis.
The Golden Rule - Amanda Craig
A thriller of a novel which touches on gender roles, class, the city/country divide, empathy and centres around a pact two betrayed women make to avenge their husbands.
The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett
One of the most hyped reads of the past year, the bestselling story of identical twins who run away from their small, southern Black community aged 16. The book picks up with them 10 years later when they live vastly different lives; one in the same community she tried to escape and one who secretly passes as white with her white husband knowing nothing of their past. What does this mean for them now and what does it mean for their daughters's generations and lives?
Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi
Written by Ghanian born, Alabama raised Yaa Gyasi, the book centres around a family who travelled the same route. But when the main character loses her brother and father, she seeks answers for why life was so cruel for them as immigrants in the American south.
Unsettled Ground - Claire Fuller
It follows 51-year-old twins Jeanie and Julius who still live in poverty with their mother until she dies and their lives become endangered as their late mother's secrets start to unravel.
Olivia Blair is Entertainment Editor (Luxury) at Hearst UK, working across ELLE, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Olivia covers all things entertainment and has interviewed the likes of Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Michaela Coel and Ryan Gosling over the years.
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