Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent 

Women’s fiction prize ‘infected by misery memoirs’

Big name writers miss out on Orange Broadband list as seven first time novelists make cut for the prize
  
  


The much derided "misery memoir" has infected fiction authored by women, according to the chair of judges of the Orange Broadband Prize.

"Reading 120 books I did find myself thinking, 'Oh god, not another dead baby'," said Kirsty Lang, as the longlist for the prize was announced. "There were a hell of a lot of abused children and family secrets."

Last year's chair, Muriel Gray, provoked controversy when she criticised women's writing for addressing domestic themes rather than working on a broader canvas. Lang said: "Yes, there were a lot of domestic dramas. Do I have a problem with that? Not really. Most fiction readers are women and we like our reading to reflect our experience. Women will write about domestic life because that is the reality of women's lives. I'd like to say the opposite, but it wouldn't be true."

This year's longlist sees last year's Booker winner, Anne Enright, make the list alongside established authors such as Rose Tremain and Deborah Moggach.

Nonetheless, there are big names who did not make the cut, including Pat Barker, the Booker-shortlisted Nicola Barker, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Sebold, Ali Smith and Jeanette Winterson.

In addition, a number of well-known former prize winners were eligible - including Lionel Shriver, Valerie Martin, Ann Patchett and Helen Dunmore. But none of them was longlisted except for Linda Grant, who took the prize in 2000.

Seven first time novelists made the cut, and there is evidence of strong writing coming out of the Middle East, with one Turkish writer and two Iranian-Americans longlisted.

Surprisingly, perhaps, there were few submissions from Africa and India, according to Lang. One South African and one Indian book are longlisted.

However, there was an extremely strong showing from Canada. "There were more Canadian books fighting to get on the list," said Lang. Two made it, alongside seven British books, three American, one Australian and one Irish.

"I would have liked to have seen bigger political themes in the books," said Lang, though she said that a number of the longlisted novels tackled political themes "through the prism of the family", picking out Nancy Huston's Fault Lines, Gail Jones's Sorry, and Lauren Liebenberg's The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam.

Among the miserabilism came uplifting novels such as Patricia Wood's Lottery, about a man with learning disabilities who wins the lottery; and Charlotte Mendelson's When We Were Bad, "which had us laughing out loud".

This year's judges are Guardian Review editor Lisa Allardice, musician Lily Allen, writer Bel Mooney and novelist Philippa Gregory.

"Lily Allen really did read the books," said Lang. "And I could tell she wasn't bullshitting. I was quite worried because there were one or two headlines [about her]. But she was very much part of the email correspondence between the judges.

"And she is quite well-read generally. Two of the books are on the longlist because Lily batted for them."

The shortlist will be announced on April 15, and the winner on June 4.

Previous winners have included Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter (1996); Andrea Levy for Small Island (2004); Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2005); Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006); and, last year, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Half of a Yellow Sun.

The longlist

Anita Amirrezvani The Blood of Flowers

Stella Duffy The Room of Lost Things

Jennifer Egan The Keep

Anne Enright The Gathering

Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs

Tessa Hadley The Master Bedroom

Nancy Huston Fault Lines

Gail Jones Sorry

Sadie Jones The Outcast

Lauren Liebenberg The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam

Charlotte Mendelson When We Were Bad

Deborah Moggach In The Dark

Anita Nair Mistress

Heather O'Neill Lullabies for Little Criminals

Elif Shafak The Bastard of Istanbul

Dalia Sofer The Septembers of Shiraz

Scarlett Thomas The End of Mr Y

Carol Topolski Monster Love

Rose Tremain The Road Home

Patricia Wood Lottery

Judges: Kirsty Lang (chair), journalist and broadcaster; Lisa Allardice, editor of Guardian Review; Lily Allen, musician; Philippa Gregory, novelist; Bel Mooney, novelist and journalist

 

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