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'''WINNER''' {{toptenFrontpage|author=Madeline Miller|title=The Song of Achilles|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Before I started the book, I looked out my copy of Homer's ''The Iliad'' and skim-read its one page introduction (yes, yet another book in my 'must-read' pile but it's been on it for about ahem, ten years). Having said that, it is rather dry and scholarly which didn't really inspire me to get on with this book as I wasn't really looking for a 'heavy' read, especially on a nice summer's day. Onwards ...|isbn=1408816032}} '''Shortlist''' {{Frontpage|author=Esi Edugyan|title=Half-Blood Blues|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary= Sid and his friend Chip are revisiting their youth, more than 50 years ago. They were jazz musicians, living and working in Berlin and Paris, until they had to escape Nazi occupied Paris in 1940 to return to Baltimore. Now it is 1992, and all the others they worked with are long since dead. They have just been involved in a documentary about their experiences, and are about to return to Germany (soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall) for a jazz festival in memory of the great Hiero Falk. Hieronymus Falk was a young black German musician with an exceptional musical talent, the star of their band, the Hot-Time Swingers. He was picked up by 'the Boots' as Sid refers to the Germans, in Paris in 1940, and disappeared into a concentration camp, then they heard he was released but died in 1948.|isbn=1846687764}} {{Frontpage|author=Anne Enright|title=The Forgotten Waltz|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Anne Enright's 2007 Booker prize winning [[The Gathering by Anne Enright|The Gathering]] addressed the gloomy subjects of the three D's; death, depression and dysfunctional families. Her latest book, ''The Forgotten Waltz'', set in Dublin in 2009, sees her turning her attentions to a love affair. A more uplifting subject you might think. Well only up to a point. The affair in question you see is that of her narrator, Gina, who is already married to the generally good, if undynamic, Connor, while on the other end, the subject of the affair is the older, Seán, also married and neighbour of Gina's sister. In case your moral compass isn't stretched quite enough by this, Seán and his wife Aileen, also have a young daughter who suffers from epilepsy.|isbn=0099539780}} {{Frontpage|author=Georgina Harding|title=Painter of Silence|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= A young, anonymous, vagrant collapses on the steps of a hospital in Romania. He doesn't speak and remains a mystery to the staff that tries to treat his obvious symptoms but can't seem to reach the silent person beneath. However, Safta, a nurse, suggests that he may be deaf and produces drawing materials. Coincidentally, the man is able to draw beautifully, but this is no coincidence to Safta. There are reasons why she can't disclose it, but she knows this man. They grew up together in pre-war Romania, a whole world away when the country had a king, beautiful cities untouched by bombing and being able to read a foreign language wasn't punishable by imprisonment in work camps... or worse. |isbn=1408821125}} {{Frontpage|author=Madeline Miller|title=The Song of Achilles|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Before I started the book, I looked out my copy of Homer's ''The Iliad'' and skim-read its one page introduction (yes, yet another book in my 'must-read' pile but it's been on it for about ahem, ten years). Having said that, it is rather dry and scholarly which didn't really inspire me to get on with this book as I wasn't really looking for a 'heavy' read, especially on a nice summer's day. Onwards ...|isbn=1408816032}} {{Frontpage|author=Cynthia Ozick|title=Foreign Bodies|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Bea Nightingale's brother Marvin wants her - is haranguing her - to retrieve his errant son Julian from post-war Paris, to where he has decamped in an effort to escape parental control. Bea, a New York high school teacher, is an unlikely candidate for the role of rescuer - she and her brother have been estranged for the best part of twenty years. But she capitulates to his demands and sets off on a journey in which her presence will affect not only Julian, but his sister who also runs off to Paris, his girlfriend, a displaced Eastern European Jew, his mother (also escaping Marvin, but this time in a psychiatric facility) and Bea's own ex-husband Leo. |isbn=1848877366}} {{Frontpage|author=Ann Patchett|title=State of Wonder|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Anders Eckman is dead. The news has been delivered in the form an aerogram – remember those blue paper-cum-envelope things we used to use to write to foreign pen-pals when the notion of befriending a person you'd never met in a foreign country still seemed exotic? |isbn=1408818590}} '''Other titles on the Longlist''' {{Frontpage
|author=Karin Altenberg
|title=Island of Wings
|rating=Unreviewed5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= We donRev Neil MacKenzie has been assigned to the Hebridian island of St Kilda. His mission is to bring the locals back to the Victorian idea of God and propriety. He and his pregnant wife Lizzie not only have to fight the elements but also centuries of superstition that have trickled into the islanders't yet have Christian faith. Life is made harder for Neil by a review secret guilt emanating from the death of this book but we hope a friend years ago. However, the going becomes harder still for Lizzie, isolated by an inability to have one soonspeak the local language and the burgeoning fear engendered by Neil's behaviour and attitudes.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857382322</amazonuk>
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Aifric Campbell
|title=On the The Floor
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Geri Molloy, the central character in Aifric Campbell's ''On The Floor'', may be earning a six figure salary working at a London investment bank just prior to the outbreak of the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, but she's seriously messed up. Drinking heavily, sleeping lightly and mourning the end of a relationship, she may be a mathematical genius with a direct line to a mysterious Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager with whom she trades, but her life is increasingly being controlled by other people.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846688086</amazonuk>
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Leah Hager Cohen
|title=The Grief of Others
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= As the title suggests, the subject matter of Leah Hager Cohen's ''The Grief of Others'' is pretty grim stuff. The Ryrie family, living in the suburbs of New York, suffer the tragic loss of a baby just fifty seven hours after it is born. The book details how, one year later, the family are coping, or more accurately not coping.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846686261</amazonuk>184668627X
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Emma Donoghue
|title=The Sealed Letter
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Historical Fiction|summary= Sid and his friend Chip If you are revisiting their youthin the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, more look no further than 50 years agoEmma Donoghue's The Sealed Letter. They were jazz musicians, living and working Set in Berlin and Paris1864, until they had to escape Nazi occupied Paris in 1940 to return to Baltimore. Now it is 1992's based on the real life story of secrets and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, and all the others they worked with are long since deadrather dull Vice Admiral Codrington. They have just been involved in a documentary about their experiences, There's added spice and are about to return to Germany (soon after intrigue provided by the fall of the Berlin Wall) for a jazz festival unwitting involvement in memory events of the great Hiero Falk. Hieronymus Falk was a young black German musician with an exceptional musical talent, the star of their band, the Hot-Time Swingers. He was picked up by Emily 'the BootsFido' as Sid refers to the GermansFaithfull, an early mover in Paris in 1940, the rights of women movement and disappeared into a concentration campthat good old standard, then they heard he was released but died in 1948the Victorian spinster.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846687764</amazonuk>1447205987
}}
{{toptenFrontpage|author=Anne EnrightRoopa Farooki|title=The Forgotten WaltzFlying Man
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= Anne Enright's 2007 Booker prize winning [[The Gathering by Anne Enright|The Gathering]] addressed the gloomy subjects of the three D's; death, depression and dysfunctional families. Her latest book, ''The Forgotten WaltzFlying Man'', set opens with the now elderly Maqil Karam writing a letter in Dublin his budget hotel in 2009, sees her turning her attentions to a love affair. A more uplifting subject you might thinkthe South of France and facing death. Well only up to a point. The affair His story takes in question you see is that of her narratormany locations, Ginafrom his native Punjab, who is already married to the generally goodNew York, if undynamicCairo, ConnorLondon, while on the other endParis and Hong Kong. In each location, Maqil adopts a different name, the subject of the affair is the olderincluding Mike Cram, SeánMehmet Kahn, also married Miguel Caram and neighbour of Gina's sisterMikhail Lee. In case your moral compass isn't stretched quite enough by thisOften he acquires a different wife as well, Carine, Seán Samira and his wife AileenBernadette, also have a young daughter who suffers from epilepsy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539780</amazonuk>}} {{topten|author=Roopa Forooki|title=The Flying Man|rating=Unreviewed|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= We donalthough he doesn't yet have go to the bother of divorcing them, he just simply walks away. He is a chancer and a review of this book but we hope to have one soongambler, avoiding attachment, responsibility and commitment throughout his life.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755383389</amazonuk>
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Jaimy Gordon
|title=Lord of Misrule
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=West Virginia, 1970. We're at a rundown race track, of the dusty kind rundown horses and their rundown owner/trainers fetch up living in, with the occasional race to interrupt the boredom. Into things comes a young upstart hoping to surprise all with his four unknown quantities and make a packet before fleeing. His girlfriend is here too to help out, and naively eager for success and knowledge, but old hands like Medicine Ed have seen it all before. Also in the background are some small-time gangsters who are not too keen at for once not knowing who is doing what and how races are going to be run and won.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857386697</amazonuk>}} {{topten|author=Georgina Harding|title=Painter of Silence|rating=Unreviewed|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= We don't yet have a review of this book but we hope to have one soon.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408821125</amazonuk>0857386719
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Jane Harris
|title=Gillespie and I
|rating=Unreviewed5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=We donThe 'I' in the title of Jane Harris't yet have s Gillespie and I is Harriet Baxter. Now elderly and residing in London in 1933, she is finally telling her events of what happened in the early 1880s in Glasgow and her relationship with the Gillespie family. At the time, a review spinster of this book independent means, she arrived in Glasgow to visit the International Exhibition and became a champion of and friend to a young Scottish painter, Ned Gillespie and his young family. We know from early on that tragedy struck the Gillespie family leading to Ned destroying his career, but we hope Harriet wants to set the record straight with regard to have one soonher involvement in events. You may or may not believe her story. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0571238300</amazonuk>
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Francesca Kay
|title=The Translation of the Bones
|rating=Unreviewed4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= We don''The Translation of the Bones'' revolves around four women, all connected with the Church of the Sacred Heart, Battersea. Mary Margaret, not the sharpest knife in the box, lives between two poles. When she isn't yet have in church, she's caring for her flat-bound, morbidly obese mother, Fidelma. Alice Armitage, happily married to Larry, counts the days until their son will be home from a review tour of this book duty in Afghanistan. The fourth woman, Stella, lives in a loveless marriage to MP Rufus and spends her time wishing the days away till she can collect her 10 year old son from boarding school. Father Diamond ministers to these women and the church community in general, but we hope whilst worrying about his own adequacy and faith. However, their problems thus far are nothing compared to the devastation to have one sooncome.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0297865080</amazonuk>
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=A L Kennedy
|title=The Blue Book
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Despite not being 'quoits and gin slings and rubbers of bridge people' Elizabeth and Derek have embarked on a cruise. Derek is probably hoping to propose, but things do not go as planned. From the moment they encounter a stranger as they board the ship, the cruise proves to be revelationary for all concerned.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0224091409</amazonuk>0099555468
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Erin Morgenstern
|title=The Night Circus
|summary=
The Night Circus moves from town to town; appearing with no warning, no announcements. The attractions seem impossible – a carousel with breathing animals, handkerchiefs that turn into birds in front of the watchful eyes of the audience, doors that appear and disappear. In the middle of it all are Celia, the daughter of a famous illusionist, and Marco, the apprentice of a mysterious magician. From a young age the lovers have been destined to compete against each other using their unusual skills to win a prize that neither of them understands; and an end that will leave only one standing.
|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184655523X</amazonuk>}} {{topten|author=Madeline Miller|title=The Song of Achilles|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Before I started the book, I looked out my copy of Homer's ''The Iliad'' and skim-read its one page introduction (yes, yet another book in my 'must-read' pile but it's been on it for about ahem, ten years). Having said that, it is rather dry and scholarly which didn't really inspire me to get on with this book as I wasn't really looking for a 'heavy' read, especially on a nice summer's day. Onwards ...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408816032</amazonuk>}} {{topten|author=Cynthia Ozick|title=Foreign Bodies|rating=Unreviewed|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= We don't yet have a review of this book but we hope to have one soon.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848877358</amazonuk>}} {{topten|author=Ann Patchett|title=State of Wonder|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Anders Eckman is dead. The news has been delivered in the form an aerogram – remember those blue paper-cum-envelope things we used to use to write to foreign pen-pals when the notion of befriending a person you'd never met in a foreign country still seemed exotic? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408818590</amazonuk>Morgenstern_Night
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Ali Smith
|title=There but for the
|rating=Unreviewed4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= We don't yet have If you are the type of reader who thinks that the mark of a good book is a review of plot, then step away from this book : you'll hate it. Ali Smith's intricately clever and often funny ''There but we hope to have one soonfor the'' is very much at the literary end of the fiction spectrum. Not in terms of the language used though - Smith uses simple language, and a '''LOT''' of puns, and if anything, as the title suggests, she's more interested in the little words. It's playful and strangely affecting, while at the same time a little affected and often slightly irritatingly free flowing.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0241143403</amazonuk>
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Anna Stothard
|title=The Pink Hotel
|rating=Unreviewed4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= We donThe phone call came when she was 17. Her mother had died; the mother who had just been a flimsy memory of a touch, an impression and a faded photograph. Not satisfied with her father and grandma's biased recollections of 'the slut', she steals her step-mother't yet s credit card and catches a flight to the funeral in Los Angeles. Unfortunately she arrives too late for the funeral, but finding the pink hotel her mother owned, she walks in on the wake. Rooms full of drunken, drug-sodden eyes stare at her whilst she makes her way through the building to what must have been her mother's bedroom. It's then she decides, as her step-father lies, semi-consciousness, on the bed. She takes some of her mother's clothes, shoes and letters. Once she has a review chance to read them, she realises they're cards and love letters from men who may be able to build her a picture of this book the woman who gave her life but we hope to have one soonnot a lot else.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846881315</amazonuk>1846881757
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Stella Tillyard
|title=Tides of War
|rating=Unreviewed5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= We don't yet have When a scholarly historian turns a hand to fiction, complications can follow. Sometimes the result is a review dry work of this book proud, thinly disguised research, where all discerned information is hurled at the page. Sometimes the demonstrated research levels are just right, but we hope to have one soonthe characterisation is more reminiscent of cardboard cut outs than real people. However, if the historian is [[:Category:Stella Tillyard|Stella Tillyard]], cited as being phenomenally gifted by none other than Simon Schama, there's no need for concern. ''Tides of War'' is an engrossing, sweeping epic of a novel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0701183179</amazonuk>0099526425
}}
{{toptenFrontpage
|author=Amy Waldman
|title=The Submission
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The front cover of the book that I received for review is subtle (as befitting the sensitive contents) and I can see the two twin towers (as was) depicted in grey in the title word submission. The back cover announces that this novel will be 'Published in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.' No pressure then. I open the book with a certain amount of trepidation, I have to admit and feel slightly as if I'm about to tread on (literary) eggshells. Heavens - what if I don't like the book?
||amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0434019321</amazonuk>
}}
[[Category:Literary Fiction]]
[[Category:Literary Fiction|*Orange Prize for Fiction 2012]]