Women's Prize for Fiction - the shortlist

[CountFosco]

So, looks like a strong list this year. Who do you think will win?

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Weather by Jenny Offill
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Dominicana by Angie Cruz

I loved Girl, Woman, Other
I am currently listening to Hamnet but can't get into it.

I found Girl, Woman, Other unreadable.

Haven't read any of the others. Not sjre where to start!

In some ways I'm a little disappointed that Girl, Woman Other and The Mirror and The Light are on the shortlist. Both great works I'm sure (haven't read TMATL) but did feel that as these are so well known and celebrated, it would have been good to give these places to lesser known books and authors. I don't know!

I enjoyed Dominicana and A Thousand Ships and look forward to reading the others.

I didn't think TMATL was that great, alas. Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies are two of my favourite books ever but I found Mirror very circuitous and bogged down in its own prose and research. I was pretty gutted as I've been looking forward to it for a long time. But maybe that's the issue!

I really enjoyed Dominicana. A Thousand Ships was good but in my mind Madeline Miller does this type of book a lot better.

Sad not to see How We Disappeared on the shortlist, it was my favourite of those I managed to read from the long list.

I thought The Mirror and the Light was far too long. I loved Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, but this just went on and on. Perhaps one of the problems was that her approach seemed so fresh in Wolf Hall, but once you know what to expect, it seems less exciting.

I normally really like Maggie o'Farrell, but I wasn't a fan of Hamnet. It just didn't feel convincing to me.

A Thousand Ships is one I enjoyed a lot - I agree Madeline Miller does that genre well, but I still found it a compelling read.

Would anyone recommend any of the others? It sounds as if people liked Dominicana.

I'm reading Girl, Woman, Other at the moment and, so far, I'm enjoying it.

Have got TMATL on my tbr list and Hamnet too. Not really bothered about the rest.

I have a couple from the long list still to read too - The Dutch House and Red at the Bone.

Loved Mantel and Evaristo. Not especially keen on the Haynes. Thought it felt rather flat compared with Madeline Miller ( Circe / Song of Achilles) and Pat Barker ( Silence of the Girls). Not sure I can face Hamnet at the moment given the subject matter. The Offill and Cruz sound interesting.

Does anyone like the Hamnet one? My favourite Hamnet-related novel is the Ngaio Marsh murder mystery centring around a play written about his glove. "Death at the Dolphin." I like reading Shakespeare-adjacent stuff, so this one does seem attractive.

I read the entire longlist and wouldn't have put either Dominicana or A Thousand Ships forward for the shortlist, they were both towards the bottom of my overall list.

I'd like to see Weather win, it was different and interesting in the way it was written. I didn't think I'd finish it when I first started but loved it by the end.

I really enjoyed most of the longlist to be honest and don't think there were many duds on it. I didn't care for Fleishman is in Trouble, but was very happy with the rest. I agree with the sentiments about A Thousand Ships, it wasn't bad, simply that other people have already done it much better.

I've only read Girl, Woman, Other and have TMATL on my TBR pile (Bring Up The Bodies is probably my favourite book of the last decade, I thought it was brilliant, better than Wolf Hall, which I also loved) so interesting to see what others thought.

Never read any Maggie O'Farrell so was thinking about reading Hamnet. Heard mixed reviews of A Thousand Ships (and loved The Silence of Girls so didn't want to compare). Might have to check out Weather now after reading FortunaMajor's review.

Random bolding there!

Loved Hamnet. Amazing book.

Reading Girl, Woman, Other now and really struggle. I find it really unoriginal like I have read the book 20 years ago and just reading an updated version for today. Am I the only one not getting on with this book?

i abandoned girl, woman, other hapf way through- i was enjoying it but found it didnt have enough momentum to pull me along. might return to it.

i loved fleishman- thought it was brilliant, thought provoking, observant, powerful

im nervous hamnet is going to be just too sad.