Man Booker Prize 2009

Winner

Review of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Literary Fiction A revisionist look at Henry VIII's minister, Thomas Cromwell. Rich, absorbing and intelligent, it's a beautiful, beautiful book. Full Review

The Shortlist

Review of The Children's Book by A S Byatt Literary Fiction This is a rich and vast novel that is both thought provoking but at the same time easy to read about childhood and children's stories. Set between the late Victorian age and World War One, it tells of an age obsessed by children's stories and follows the lives of a number of families and their own children at various ends of the social spectrum. Full Review

Review of Summertime by J M Coetzee Literary Fiction A postmodernist novel that presents research evidence gathered by a fictional biographer on the years when the deceased semi-fictional John Coetzee was finding his feet as a writer. Too clever by half, perhaps, but very readable and thought-provoking to boot. Full Review

Review of The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds Literary Fiction Based on true events, this is a reworking of a time that the nature poet, John Clare, spent in a mental institution. The Tennyson brothers also figure largely in this short and descriptive novel. Full Review

Review of The Glass Room by Simon Mawer Literary Fiction A genteel examination of the nature of humanity set against the beauty of modernist architecture and the horrors of genocide. Understated emotion. Recommended. Full Review

Review of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters Literary Fiction When was the last time you couldn't put a Booker nominated novel down? Sarah Waters, author of acclaimed novels Fingersmith and The Night Watch has written a chilling psychological ghost story that kept me guessing until the very last page. Full Review

Longlisted books which didn't make the shortlist

Review of How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall Literary Fiction A visceral exploration of art, love, loss and the human condition. Full Review

Review of The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey Literary Fiction This impressive debut novel by Samantha Harvey tracks the progress of a protagonist with Alzheimer's disease. It's a demanding and troubling read but reaps rewards for readers prepared to give it their attention. Full Review

Review of Me Cheeta by James Lever Literary Fiction A spoof biography of Cheeta the chimpanzee, that gives a great insight into the golden age of Hollywood. It's top quality trash (in the best possible way), and a great deal of fun. Full Review

Review of Not Untrue and Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin Literary Fiction A journalist in Africa, late 1990s, finds the problems inherent in reporting the unearthly horrors of ethnic warfare, and the benefits of grounding relationships with his damaged colleagues. It's a meaty premise, but closer perhaps to bushmeat than prime rump. Full Review

Review of Heliopolis by James Scudamore Literary Fiction An interesting, but not outstanding book about the identity crisis of a newly-rich, ex-favela young man. It takes itself too seriously at times and attempts to shock with a half-incest theme, but is still in essence another book about coping with uncertainty and lack of self-definition. The book might appeal to men in their late twenties - the level of indecisiveness and responsibility looks just about right, and it does broaden one's horizons. Full Review

Review of Brooklyn by Colm Toibin Literary Fiction A deceptively simple story of a young woman who leaves 1950s Ireland for New York, falls in love and then returns to her home town. But Brooklyn is about much more than that, and Tóibín's understated prose has a depth and resonance that is a real pleasure to read. Full Review

Review of Love and Summer by William Trevor Literary Fiction A young farmer's wife embarks on an affair in rural 1950s Ireland with unanticipated consequences. Exploring themes of love and escape, the novel develops into a climax that approaches the perfection of Trevor's short stories. Full Review

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