First it was the Orange Prize, then it was the Women’s Prize, now it’s the Bailey’s Prize and we’re finally back to talking about the books not the name. Good news, as this year’s is the sort of shortlist that’s stuffed with books that deserve prizes, but won’t make you snoozily roll off your sun lounger this summer. The prize itself is awarded on 3rd June, so it’s time to get reading. Here’s our guide to the six who’ve made it this far.
Rachel Cusk – Outline
Cusk is not an easy writer to like, but the way she writes is undeniably breathtaking. Outline is about an author who heads to Athens to teach a creative writing course, except it really isn’t – it’s about everyone around her. Told in Cusk’s unique almost aloof voice, it makes the narrator difficult to get to know, but her surroundings spring into colour, a web of interconnecting stories. If you liked Ghostwritten, or John Fowles novels, this one will capture your imagination.
(Faber/Vintage)
Laline Paull – The Bees
The Bees really is about bees. Well, in so far as Animal Farm is about animals on a farm… Set in a bee colony, looking at the lives of the actual bees, it is a take on society, class, misogyny and environmentalism. It’s also quite good fun, and a great election-fever cure - think Watership Down done by Terry Pratchett, but with bees and feminism. Yeah, we told you reading was fun.
(Fourth Estate)
Kamila Shamsie – A God in Every Stone
Opening in 1914, this has a duel narrative about both a young English woman working on an archaeological dig in Turkey, and a soldier in the Indian Army fighting in Ypres. They suffer injury and heartache, and their paths cross on a train travelling to Peshawar. This feels like the most ‘book on a prize list’-y of the lot, and it is certainly the most traditional piece of storytelling. There’s still a lot to be absorbed by here, nevertheless.
(Bloomsbury)
Ali Smith – How to be Both
This one’s already been shortlisted for the Man Booker, and won the Costa Novel of the Year, so we don’t need to tell you it’s quality fiction. It’s curious and inventive, telling the story of both a teenage girl grieving for her mother, and a 15th century Renaissance artist she stumbles across. In some editions you read the girl George’s story first, in others the two halves are flipped. It’s a neat trick and one that makes it perfect for discussion and comparison. Get involved..
(Hamish Hamilton)
Anne Tyler – A Spool of Blue Thread
A family sitting on a porch listening to a matriarch tell their story does not sound like a barnstormer of a read. But Anne Tyler is so damn good that even this relatively slow read somehow bewitches the reader. It’s the sort of domestic tone that Jonathan Franzen or even David Nicholls does very well, done brilliantly here. You’ll start to believe this is your own family.
(Chatto & Windus)
Sarah Waters – The Paying Guests
One of the stars of last autumn, this is a fantastic literary thriller, oozing with sex, nerve-shredding tension and a razor-sharp sense of London between the wars. Love, grief, war, hats, ice-skating and how to hide huge bloodstains from carpets - it’s all covered here. It’s ridiculous how exciting this story about a mother and daughter who have to take in lodgers is, and it’s our pick for the prize.
(Virago)
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.