Difference between revisions of "Costa Prize 2011"

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__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
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{{adsense4}}
 
  
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<br>
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'''WINNER'''
−
Entries for the 2011 Awards clsed on 24 June 2011. The shortlists were aannounced on 15 November and we'll hear about the category winners on 4 January 2012. The presentation ceremony follows on 24 January.
+
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Andrew Miller
 +
|title=Pure
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|summary=I've read Miller's Oxygen and The Optimists so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The story opens in the opulence of the Palace of Versailles. We are given vivid descriptions of both the scale of the palace and its grandeur. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, the young engineer, seems completely over-awed by the whole occasion. Even although he's not entirely sure what is expected of him in Paris, he accepts. He needs to eat, after all.  
 +
|isbn=1444724282
 +
}}
  
 
'''The Shortlists'''
 
'''The Shortlists'''
Line 9: Line 16:
 
'''Costa First Novel Award'''
 
'''Costa First Novel Award'''
  
−
{{topten
+
'''Winner'''
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Christie Watson
 +
|title=Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=''Tiny Sunbirds Far Away'' starts in Lagos but soon moves to the rural, oil producing Niger Delta. This allows Christie Watson's young narrator, 12 year old Blessing, to view the traditional ways afresh. It's a clever device and young Blessing is shocked by the rural conditions after a relatively luxurious life in Lagos with a good school and a modern apartment. But when her mother discovers her father on top of another woman, she takes Blessing and her older brother, the asthmatic Ezikiel, back to her family home.
 +
|isbn=1849163758
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
'''The rest of the shortlist'''
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Kevin Barry
 
|author=Kevin Barry
 
|title=City of Bohane
 
|title=City of Bohane
Line 15: Line 35:
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Hugely cinematic in style, this gangland take set 50 years in the future in a parallel Ireland is breathtakingly original and distinctive. Told in a vernacular style it is a lust and drug fuelled romp of a story that you won't easily forget.  
 
|summary=Hugely cinematic in style, this gangland take set 50 years in the future in a parallel Ireland is breathtakingly original and distinctive. Told in a vernacular style it is a lust and drug fuelled romp of a story that you won't easily forget.  
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224090577</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=Barry_City
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Patrick McGuinness
 
|author=Patrick McGuinness
 
|title=The Last Hundred Days
 
|title=The Last Hundred Days
Line 25: Line 45:
 
|summary=
 
|summary=
 
'The Last Hundred Days' in question here are the final days of Ceausescu's Romania in late 1989. Narrated by an unnamed young British expat who has a job offer from the English department of Bucharest University, despite never having interviewed for the job, we get an insight into the life under communist rule as Eastern bloc countries all around start to open up after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are told that McGuinness lived in Romania in the years leading up to the revolution, and this is no surprise as there is an authenticity here that could only have come from some level of inside knowledge.  
 
'The Last Hundred Days' in question here are the final days of Ceausescu's Romania in late 1989. Narrated by an unnamed young British expat who has a job offer from the English department of Bucharest University, despite never having interviewed for the job, we get an insight into the life under communist rule as Eastern bloc countries all around start to open up after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are told that McGuinness lived in Romania in the years leading up to the revolution, and this is no surprise as there is an authenticity here that could only have come from some level of inside knowledge.  
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1854115413</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1854115413
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
−
|author=Christie Watson
 
−
|title=Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
 
−
|rating=
 
−
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
−
|summary=
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184916374X</amazonuk>
 
−
}}
 
−
 
 
−
{{topten
 
 
|author=Kerry Young
 
|author=Kerry Young
 
|title=Pao
 
|title=Pao
Line 43: Line 54:
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=In her Costa Prize short-listed first novel, Kerry Young brings together a huge number of elements that make up a good story. Set in Jamaica, the time period covers 1938 to almost present day, it is the political backdrop of independence and control over Jamaica's assets that informs much of the story. But while the politics of Jamaica resound throughout the book, it's also a very personal story about the life of the eponymous Yang Pao. Issues of race, class, love, family, ambition and business philosophy - Pao's guiding light is Sun Tzu's The Art of War - are skilfully woven into the mix to make this a great book to curl up with on a cold winter's night.  
 
|summary=In her Costa Prize short-listed first novel, Kerry Young brings together a huge number of elements that make up a good story. Set in Jamaica, the time period covers 1938 to almost present day, it is the political backdrop of independence and control over Jamaica's assets that informs much of the story. But while the politics of Jamaica resound throughout the book, it's also a very personal story about the life of the eponymous Yang Pao. Issues of race, class, love, family, ambition and business philosophy - Pao's guiding light is Sun Tzu's The Art of War - are skilfully woven into the mix to make this a great book to curl up with on a cold winter's night.  
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140881207X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=140881207X
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
'''Costa Novel Award'''
 
'''Costa Novel Award'''
  
−
{{topten
+
'''Winner'''
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Andrew Miller
 +
|title=Pure
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|summary=I've read Miller's Oxygen and The Optimists so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The story opens in the opulence of the Palace of Versailles. We are given vivid descriptions of both the scale of the palace and its grandeur. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, the young engineer, seems completely over-awed by the whole occasion. Even although he's not entirely sure what is expected of him in Paris, he accepts. He needs to eat, after all.
 +
|isbn=1444724282
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
'''The rest of the shortlist'''
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Julian Barnes
 
|author=Julian Barnes
 
|title=The Sense of an Ending
 
|title=The Sense of an Ending
Line 54: Line 78:
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary='The Sense of an Ending' is almost more of a novella - it's a slim volume but exquisitely written, as you might expect from Julian Barnes. It starts off describing the relationships between four friends at school, narrated by one of the friends, Tony Webster, but quickly it becomes clear that this is written many years later. Barnes has long been a terrific observer of the English middle classes and his style invariably contains satire and dry humour. And this being Barnes, this school clique is intellectual in interest, as the narrator recalls English and History teachers and student philosophising.   
 
|summary='The Sense of an Ending' is almost more of a novella - it's a slim volume but exquisitely written, as you might expect from Julian Barnes. It starts off describing the relationships between four friends at school, narrated by one of the friends, Tony Webster, but quickly it becomes clear that this is written many years later. Barnes has long been a terrific observer of the English middle classes and his style invariably contains satire and dry humour. And this being Barnes, this school clique is intellectual in interest, as the narrator recalls English and History teachers and student philosophising.   
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224094157</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0099564971
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
 
|author=John Burnside
 
|author=John Burnside
 
|title=A Summer of Drowning
 
|title=A Summer of Drowning
Line 63: Line 87:
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=''A Summer of Drowning'' is a book in which for much of the time not a lot happens - but always spookily. Set on the Norwegian island of Kvaløya in the Arctic Circle, the story is narrated by Liv who is now 28 but who recalls events of a summer when she was 18. Liv resides with her artist mother in, if not isolation, then certainly seclusion. The book makes much of the midsummer madness that 24 hour daylight induces and in that respect it is wholly successful. It aims for a dream-like and timeless quality which it largely achieves.   
 
|summary=''A Summer of Drowning'' is a book in which for much of the time not a lot happens - but always spookily. Set on the Norwegian island of Kvaløya in the Arctic Circle, the story is narrated by Liv who is now 28 but who recalls events of a summer when she was 18. Liv resides with her artist mother in, if not isolation, then certainly seclusion. The book makes much of the midsummer madness that 24 hour daylight induces and in that respect it is wholly successful. It aims for a dream-like and timeless quality which it largely achieves.   
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022406178X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=022406178X
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
−
|author=Andrew Miller
+
|author=Louisa Young
−
|title=Pure
+
|title=My Dear I Wanted to Tell You
−
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
−
|summary=I've read Miller's Oxygen and The Optimists so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The story opens in the opulence of the Palace of Versailles. We are given vivid descriptions of both the scale of the palace and its grandeur. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, the young engineer, seems completely over-awed by the whole occasion. Even although he's not entirely sure what is expected of him in Paris, he accepts. He needs to eat, after all.  
+
|summary=It takes a while for the full power of Louisa Young's remarkable ''My Dear I Wanted To Tell You'' to become apparent, but when it does, it can hardly fail to move you. Set just before and during World War One, it's a story of love and human spirit against the odds. The impact of the book is in what happens to the characters, so I don't want to give too much away, but it's worth pointing out that it's not for the overly squeamish reader particularly in some of the descriptions of surgical procedures, which have clearly been meticulously researched by Young. The title itself it taken from the opening words of the standard letters that the wounded were given to send to loved ones back home. The wounded were required to fill in the blanks.
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444724258</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0007361432
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
'''Costa Poetry Award'''
−
|author=Moira Young
+
 
−
|title=My Dear I Wanted To Tell You
+
We don't review poetry, but here's a list of the runners and riders:
−
|rating=
+
 
−
|genre=Literary Fiction
+
'''Winner'''
−
|summary=
+
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007361432</amazonuk>
+
'''The Bees'' by Carol Ann Duffy
−
}}
+
 
 +
'''The rest of the shortlist'''
 +
 
 +
''Night'' by David Harsent
  
−
'''Costa Poetry Award'''
+
''Fiere'' by Jackie Kay
  
−
{{topten
+
''November'' by Sean O'Brien
−
|author=Carol Ann Duffy
 
−
|title=The Bees
 
−
|rating=Unreviewed
 
−
|summary=Unfortunately we don't have a review of this book.  The judges said ''These tender, fluent, surprising poems feel at once contemporary and alive
 
−
with the history of poetry.''
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330442449</amazonuk>
 
−
}}
 
  
−
{{topten
+
'''Costa Biography Award'''
−
|author=David Harsent
 
−
|title=Night
 
−
|rating=Unreviewed
 
−
|summary=Unfortunately we don't have a review of this book. The judges said ''Harsent’s long luxuriant lines are lit by jewel-like images. Formally ambitious,
 
−
complex and mysterious.''
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571255639</amazonuk>
 
−
}}
 
  
−
{{topten
+
'''Winner'''
−
|author=Jackie Kay
 
−
|title=Fiere
 
−
|rating=Unreviewed
 
−
|summary=Unfortunately we don't have a review of this book. The judges said ''These poems are open-armed and generous, warmly emotional without being sentimental. They welcome you in.''
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330513370</amazonuk>
 
−
}}
 
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
−
|author=Sean O'Brien
+
|author=Matthew Hollis
−
|title=November
+
|title=Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas
−
|rating=Unreviewed
+
|rating=5
−
|summary=Unfortunately we don't have a review of this book. The judges said ''The mythic combines with the modern in incantatory poems that thrum with verbal and intellectual energy.''
+
|genre=Biography
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330535005</amazonuk>
+
|summary=A biography of Edward Thomas, a prolific writer and literary critic who only turned to poetry in 1914 yet became one of the most renowned poets of his generation despite being killed in action less than three years later.  
 +
|isbn=0571245986
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
'''Costa Biography Award'''
+
'''The rest of the shortlist'''
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Julia Blackburn
 
|author=Julia Blackburn
−
|title=Thin Paths: Journeys In and Around an Italian Mountain Village
+
|title=Thin Paths: Journeys in and Around an Italian Mountain Village
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Biography
 
|genre=Biography
 
|summary=Julia Blackburn had known Herman for many years, but they had drifted apart. She put the postcard which she received from him in an album: it mentioned a cottage he had discovered in Liguria and which he was renovating. Some time later there was another postcard and an invitation to visit. Over time the cottage would become her home and Herman her husband. 'Thin Paths' is the stories of the people who inhabit this harsh, wild landscape and of the way in which the landscape has formed the people. The thin paths join the people and the places together in a way of life which is rare.   
 
|summary=Julia Blackburn had known Herman for many years, but they had drifted apart. She put the postcard which she received from him in an album: it mentioned a cottage he had discovered in Liguria and which he was renovating. Some time later there was another postcard and an invitation to visit. Over time the cottage would become her home and Herman her husband. 'Thin Paths' is the stories of the people who inhabit this harsh, wild landscape and of the way in which the landscape has formed the people. The thin paths join the people and the places together in a way of life which is rare.   
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224090682</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0099549425
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Patrick Cockburn and Henry Cockburn
 
|author=Patrick Cockburn and Henry Cockburn
 
|title=Henry's Demons: Living with Schizophrenia. a Father and Son's Story
 
|title=Henry's Demons: Living with Schizophrenia. a Father and Son's Story
Line 137: Line 145:
 
|genre=Biography
 
|genre=Biography
 
|summary=A poignant, moving account of one family's living with a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Patrick tells most of the story, though his elder son Henry, the sufferer, has written some chapters from his point of view.  
 
|summary=A poignant, moving account of one family's living with a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Patrick tells most of the story, though his elder son Henry, the sufferer, has written some chapters from his point of view.  
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847377033</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1847377033
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
−
|author=Matthew Hollis
 
−
|title=Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas
 
−
|rating=
 
−
|genre=Biography
 
−
|summary=
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571245986</amazonuk>
 
−
}}
 
−
 
 
−
{{topten
 
 
|author=Claire Tomalin
 
|author=Claire Tomalin
 
|title=Charles Dickens: A Life
 
|title=Charles Dickens: A Life
Line 155: Line 154:
 
|genre=Biography
 
|genre=Biography
 
|summary=A very full account of the life of one of the best-known Victorian writers, from one of the most acclaimed of contemporary biographers, highlighting his virtues and less agreeable side in equal measure.  
 
|summary=A very full account of the life of one of the best-known Victorian writers, from one of the most acclaimed of contemporary biographers, highlighting his virtues and less agreeable side in equal measure.  
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670917672</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0670917672
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
'''Costa Children's Book Award'''
 
'''Costa Children's Book Award'''
  
−
{{topten
+
'''Winner'''
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Moira Young
 +
|title=Blood Red Road
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Teens
 +
|summary=Fabulous quest novel set in a future dystopian society and in the current vogue style of a revenge Western. It's beautifully done in spare prose and has a marvellous central character. Bookbag loved it.
 +
|isbn=1407124250
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
'''The rest of the shortlist'''
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Martyn Bedford
 
|author=Martyn Bedford
 
|title=Flip
 
|title=Flip
Line 166: Line 178:
 
|genre=Teens
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=An awesome psychological thriller with a fascinating premise, a plot that is paced spectacularly well, and a protagonist you will come to really empathise with. Enjoyed it immensely, and comes thoroughly recommended.  
 
|summary=An awesome psychological thriller with a fascinating premise, a plot that is paced spectacularly well, and a protagonist you will come to really empathise with. Enjoyed it immensely, and comes thoroughly recommended.  
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406329894</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1406344230
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Frank Cottrell Boyce
 
|author=Frank Cottrell Boyce
 
|title=The Unforgotten Coat   
 
|title=The Unforgotten Coat   
−
|rating=
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
−
|summary=
+
|summary=Gorgeous and slightly surreal story about friendship, difference and enrichment. And a more-than-welcome antidote to anti-immigration rhetoric. Just don't buy it on Kindle!
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406333859</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1406333859
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
{{topten
+
{{Frontpage
 
|author=Lissa Evans
 
|author=Lissa Evans
 
|title=Small Change for Stuart
 
|title=Small Change for Stuart
Line 184: Line 196:
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=A wonderful story full of interesting, quirky characters...perfect for lovers of magic, or those who just enjoy a good action, adventure and mystery story!   
 
|summary=A wonderful story full of interesting, quirky characters...perfect for lovers of magic, or those who just enjoy a good action, adventure and mystery story!   
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>038561800X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=038561800X
−
}}
 
−
 
 
−
{{topten
 
−
|author=Moira Young
 
−
|title=Blood Red Road
 
−
|rating=5
 
−
|genre=Teens
 
−
|summary=Fabulous quest novel set in a future dystopian society and in the current vogue style of a revenge Western. It's beautifully done in spare prose and has a marvellous central character. Bookbag loved it.
 
−
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407124250</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  

Latest revision as of 11:03, 31 January 2024


WINNER

1444724282.jpg

Review of

Pure by Andrew Miller

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

I've read Miller's Oxygen and The Optimists so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The story opens in the opulence of the Palace of Versailles. We are given vivid descriptions of both the scale of the palace and its grandeur. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, the young engineer, seems completely over-awed by the whole occasion. Even although he's not entirely sure what is expected of him in Paris, he accepts. He needs to eat, after all. Full Review

The Shortlists

Costa First Novel Award

Winner

1849163758.jpg

Review of

Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson

4star.jpg General Fiction

Tiny Sunbirds Far Away starts in Lagos but soon moves to the rural, oil producing Niger Delta. This allows Christie Watson's young narrator, 12 year old Blessing, to view the traditional ways afresh. It's a clever device and young Blessing is shocked by the rural conditions after a relatively luxurious life in Lagos with a good school and a modern apartment. But when her mother discovers her father on top of another woman, she takes Blessing and her older brother, the asthmatic Ezikiel, back to her family home. Full Review

The rest of the shortlist

Barry City.jpg

Review of

City of Bohane by Kevin Barry

5star.jpg General Fiction

Hugely cinematic in style, this gangland take set 50 years in the future in a parallel Ireland is breathtakingly original and distinctive. Told in a vernacular style it is a lust and drug fuelled romp of a story that you won't easily forget. Full Review

1854115413.jpg

Review of

The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

'The Last Hundred Days' in question here are the final days of Ceausescu's Romania in late 1989. Narrated by an unnamed young British expat who has a job offer from the English department of Bucharest University, despite never having interviewed for the job, we get an insight into the life under communist rule as Eastern bloc countries all around start to open up after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are told that McGuinness lived in Romania in the years leading up to the revolution, and this is no surprise as there is an authenticity here that could only have come from some level of inside knowledge. Full Review

140881207X.jpg

Review of

Pao by Kerry Young

4star.jpg General Fiction

In her Costa Prize short-listed first novel, Kerry Young brings together a huge number of elements that make up a good story. Set in Jamaica, the time period covers 1938 to almost present day, it is the political backdrop of independence and control over Jamaica's assets that informs much of the story. But while the politics of Jamaica resound throughout the book, it's also a very personal story about the life of the eponymous Yang Pao. Issues of race, class, love, family, ambition and business philosophy - Pao's guiding light is Sun Tzu's The Art of War - are skilfully woven into the mix to make this a great book to curl up with on a cold winter's night. Full Review

Costa Novel Award

Winner

1444724282.jpg

Review of

Pure by Andrew Miller

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

I've read Miller's Oxygen and The Optimists so I was looking forward to reading this novel. The story opens in the opulence of the Palace of Versailles. We are given vivid descriptions of both the scale of the palace and its grandeur. Jean-Baptiste Baratte, the young engineer, seems completely over-awed by the whole occasion. Even although he's not entirely sure what is expected of him in Paris, he accepts. He needs to eat, after all. Full Review

The rest of the shortlist

0099564971.jpg

Review of

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

'The Sense of an Ending' is almost more of a novella - it's a slim volume but exquisitely written, as you might expect from Julian Barnes. It starts off describing the relationships between four friends at school, narrated by one of the friends, Tony Webster, but quickly it becomes clear that this is written many years later. Barnes has long been a terrific observer of the English middle classes and his style invariably contains satire and dry humour. And this being Barnes, this school clique is intellectual in interest, as the narrator recalls English and History teachers and student philosophising. Full Review

022406178X.jpg

Review of

A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside

3.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

A Summer of Drowning is a book in which for much of the time not a lot happens - but always spookily. Set on the Norwegian island of Kvaløya in the Arctic Circle, the story is narrated by Liv who is now 28 but who recalls events of a summer when she was 18. Liv resides with her artist mother in, if not isolation, then certainly seclusion. The book makes much of the midsummer madness that 24 hour daylight induces and in that respect it is wholly successful. It aims for a dream-like and timeless quality which it largely achieves. Full Review

0007361432.jpg

Review of

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

It takes a while for the full power of Louisa Young's remarkable My Dear I Wanted To Tell You to become apparent, but when it does, it can hardly fail to move you. Set just before and during World War One, it's a story of love and human spirit against the odds. The impact of the book is in what happens to the characters, so I don't want to give too much away, but it's worth pointing out that it's not for the overly squeamish reader particularly in some of the descriptions of surgical procedures, which have clearly been meticulously researched by Young. The title itself it taken from the opening words of the standard letters that the wounded were given to send to loved ones back home. The wounded were required to fill in the blanks. Full Review

Costa Poetry Award

We don't review poetry, but here's a list of the runners and riders:

Winner

'The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy

The rest of the shortlist

Night by David Harsent

Fiere by Jackie Kay

November by Sean O'Brien

Costa Biography Award

Winner

0571245986.jpg

Review of

Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas by Matthew Hollis

5star.jpg Biography

A biography of Edward Thomas, a prolific writer and literary critic who only turned to poetry in 1914 yet became one of the most renowned poets of his generation despite being killed in action less than three years later. Full Review

The rest of the shortlist

0099549425.jpg

Review of

Thin Paths: Journeys in and Around an Italian Mountain Village by Julia Blackburn

4star.jpg Biography

Julia Blackburn had known Herman for many years, but they had drifted apart. She put the postcard which she received from him in an album: it mentioned a cottage he had discovered in Liguria and which he was renovating. Some time later there was another postcard and an invitation to visit. Over time the cottage would become her home and Herman her husband. 'Thin Paths' is the stories of the people who inhabit this harsh, wild landscape and of the way in which the landscape has formed the people. The thin paths join the people and the places together in a way of life which is rare. Full Review

1847377033.jpg

Review of

Henry's Demons: Living with Schizophrenia. a Father and Son's Story by Patrick Cockburn and Henry Cockburn

4.5star.jpg Biography

A poignant, moving account of one family's living with a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Patrick tells most of the story, though his elder son Henry, the sufferer, has written some chapters from his point of view. Full Review

0670917672.jpg

Review of

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

5star.jpg Biography

A very full account of the life of one of the best-known Victorian writers, from one of the most acclaimed of contemporary biographers, highlighting his virtues and less agreeable side in equal measure. Full Review

Costa Children's Book Award

Winner

1407124250.jpg

Review of

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

5star.jpg Teens

Fabulous quest novel set in a future dystopian society and in the current vogue style of a revenge Western. It's beautifully done in spare prose and has a marvellous central character. Bookbag loved it. Full Review

The rest of the shortlist

1406344230.jpg

Review of

Flip by Martyn Bedford

5star.jpg Teens

An awesome psychological thriller with a fascinating premise, a plot that is paced spectacularly well, and a protagonist you will come to really empathise with. Enjoyed it immensely, and comes thoroughly recommended. Full Review

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Review of

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Gorgeous and slightly surreal story about friendship, difference and enrichment. And a more-than-welcome antidote to anti-immigration rhetoric. Just don't buy it on Kindle! Full Review

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Review of

Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

A wonderful story full of interesting, quirky characters...perfect for lovers of magic, or those who just enjoy a good action, adventure and mystery story! Full Review

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