Two of the five are actual award winners, but since the short list for Britain’s most prestigious literary prize, the Man Booker, saw women lead the way – girls penned four of the six books that made the cut – it feels only right to award each one a place on our bookshelf
The 2013 man booker winner
At only 28 and hailing all the way from New Zealand, Eleanor Catton wasn’t exactly the favourite to win this year’s Man Booker Prize. But, at an intimidating 832 pages, her historical epic The Luminaries, set amid the 1860s New Zealand gold rush, proved too good not to take home the 2013 honours. Britain’s The Guardian newspaper describes it as: “a page-turning, suspenseful story about a series of unsolved crimes, written in the manner of a Victorian sensation novel”. She’s also the youngest author ever to receive this prestigious prize. Described as a “dazzling feat of a novel”, it’s one of Grazia’s recommended reads and the author’s second novel.
The Nobel Lit winner
Canadian short story master, 83-year-old Alice Munro became the 13th woman ever to win the Nobel Prize for literature. While American Psycho author Brett Easton Ellis might have tweeted his disdain at the choice, most will know Alice’s quiet and perfectly crafted tales deserving of praise. Start with The View From Castle Rock and end with last year’s Dear Life, her final offering.
The Local Lass
We Need New Names is the coming-of-age tale of a child named Destiny, who makes the transition from a shanty town in Zimbabwe to the promised land of America. It is the debut novel from 31-year-old Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo – yes, it’s a pseudonym she dreamt up in honour of her home town – and, if this is any indication, bigger things are yet to come.
The Global Traveller
Spanning across continents, the seemingly mystical events in Zen Buddhist and film maker Ruth Ozeki’s novel, A Tale For The Time Being, are set in motion when a novelist (also named Ruth), walking along a beach in British Columbia, Canada, stumbles upon the washed up diary of a Japanese American after a tsunami.
The Second Time-arounder
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri’s latest epic spans 50 years in the lives of two brothers, who, after surviving the turmoil of 1960s Calcutta, eventually make the move to the US, only to be hit by greater personal tragedy. The Lowland is a must.
