Introducing You To The Women's Prize Longlist

Now, before we start today, you know I don’t like to say I told you so but… well a) I do, and b) it was only on Sunday that I was raving to you about I’M A FAN, and look what has appeared on the top of the Women’s Prize Longlist pile!

I’ve made a tweak to the website this week which means orders over £50 qualify for FREE DELIVERY, so… with a longlist as good as this, now seems as good a time as any to get your orders in, so where are you going to start?

I’ve resisted the urge to write lots here as the pictures alone might make it too long for some of your inboxes plus they say don’t judge a book by its cover, but clearly ‘they’ had never seen some of these beauties. So I’ll leave you to have a browse in The Book Room’s online store to find out more about each one and I’ll just walk you through them here:

An Observer Debut Book of the Year, my favourite book of the year so far and now on the Women’s Prize Longlist, how many more accolades can be bestowed on one slim book?!

Buy I’M A FAN here.

Another one I flagged up to you a couple of weeks ago, CURSED BREAD. I pondered then whether this one would end up on the Booker Longlist, forgetting that we have the Women’s Prize beforehand. I’m not saying I’m a psychic, but…

Buy CURSED BREAD here.

Visitors to my pop-up bookshop will remember seeing DEMON COPPERHEAD in the window. It received rave reviews on publication which I wrote about in my weekly digests before Christmas.

Buy DEMON COPPERHEAD here.

Another one on the shelves of my pop-up was THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT. Here might be as good a place as any to pause and say, how beautiful are all of these covers? If there were a best year in Women’s Prize Longlists, this year would win for the covers alone.

This book was published to rave reviews, and you can buy THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT here.

Next up it’s STONE BLIND, I read this book the week it was published because I’m such a sucker for Greek myth and Natalie Haynes has done a brilliant job here making Medusa, traditionally seen as a monster into something much more human.

You can buy STONE BLIND here.

Louise Kennedy is known for her short stories, but her debut novel, TRESPASSES won all the prizes last year.

You can buy TRESPASSES here.

Just look at this cover, WANDERING SOULS is another debut and it’s author is described as a ‘thrilling new voice’.

You can buy WANDERING SOULS here.

I meant to tell you about this book in Sunday’s round-up of the newspaper reviews, but didn’t get time. FIRE RUSH has been critically lauded and look, on the cover, even Bernardine Evaristo says that its author is ‘one to watch’.

You can buy FIRE RUSH here.

LOOK AT THIS COVER TOO! GLORY was shortlisted for last year’s Booker Prize and missed out on scooping the prize, so let’s hope it has better luck in the Women’s Prize.

You can buy GLORY here.

Check out the blurb on the cover of CHILDREN OF PARADISE, when Nicola Barker is calling it ‘a glittering literary gem’ you know that this might be a book worth getting to know.

Buy CHILDREN OF PARADISE here.

Apparently, if you loved My Sister the Serial Killer, you’ll love THE BANDIT QUEENS.

You can buy THE BANDIT QUEENS here.

The author of THE DOG OF THE NORTH has appeared on the Women’s Prize shortlist before, so let’s hope this darkly comic novel sees her to the top prize.

You can buy THE DOG OF THE NORTH here.

Most of these books are currently only available in hardback and I know – I know – that might make reading this longlist less affordable, but POD is actually already out in paperback, plus some of these are due out in paperback in the next few weeks and months, so send me a custom order if you would like me to pre-order you one of those if you can wait…and that’s a big if.

You can order the ‘propulsive, terrifying’ novel, POD, here.

Ok, you know what I’m bursting to say – COVER! – but it’s what’s inside that has made BLACK BUTTERFLIES a contender for this prize.

You can buy BLACK BUTTERFLIES here.

We’re nearly there now, Roxanne Gay loved MEMPHIS, and it looks like the Women’s Prize judges agreed. I bet you will too.

You can buy MEMPHIS here.

And finally, it’s HOMESICK, the cover isn’t as beguiling as the others, but this coming of age story won the hearts of the judges.

You can buy HOMESICK here.

So that’s the list, where do we start? Are we going to read them all by the time the shortlist is announced on April 26th? That gives us seven weeks.

Are we going to do it? On your marks, get set…

…. GO!

• Thank you to all who have been ordering from my online bookshop in the last week. Remember you can still support THE BOOK ROOM while I am waiting to open my physical store again by shopping online, in fact now I would appreciate the support more than ever. I can order ANY BOOK for you and you will receive it within 48 hours. It has never been a more important time to support both writers and independents bookshops, and by buying from me, you are doing both and contributing to a vital ecosystem.