Read the Women’s Prize for Fiction long-list

By Becky Hardy

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the most prestigious and highly-anticipated events in the literary calendar. Founded as a riposte to 1991’s all-male Booker Prize shortlist, it has underpinned a renaissance in literary fiction written by women since 1996 and remains one of the country’s elite literary awards.

Now, 2021’s long-list has been officially announced. Reflecting the incredible diversity of women’s fiction writing in English – ranging from accounts of female emancipation to Barbadian folktales, black comedies to wickedly sardonic takes on mother-daughter relationships (hello there, Mother’s Day!), there’s some really special stories to discover here.

So check them out below – and let us know your own shortlist before these books are whittled down on 28th April for the Women’s Prize for Fiction’s official shortlist.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

In December 1955, the Sunday Pictorial launched a Christmas appeal to find women who believed they had experienced a virgin birth. Most who came forward were ruled out, but there was one case which several doctors failed to reach a consensus. Clare Chambers heard about it on the radio and made it the basis for this fictional account – a tender story about belief, credulity and happiness.

£7.91

The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig

When Hannah is invited into the First Class carriage of the London to Penzance train by Jinni, she walks into a spider’s web – during the course of the journey, the two women agree to murder each other’s husbands. After all, they are strangers on a train, who could possibly connect them?

£14.99

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

Devastatingly acute and bitingly funny, Doshi’s forensic account of a toxic mother-daughter relationship skewers themes of betrayal, regret and memory in incisive prose.

£7.89

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

A portrait of rural poverty in the 21st century, Unsettled Ground introduces us to two middle-aged sisters whose carefully cultivated existence on the fringes of society begins to unravel following the death of their mother.

£12.08

How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

A powerful, intense story of three marriages on a beautiful island paradise where, beyond the white sand beaches and the wealthy tourists, lies poverty, menacing violence and the sacrifices some women have to make to survive.

£13.99

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

We’re used to reading Patricia Lockwood’s poetry, so her debut novel has been a hilarious, heartfelt revelation. In it she tells the story of a woman who’s fame from social media has meant she can travel around the world meeting her fans, only for two texts from her mother to suddenly shatter her seemingly-perfect life.

£8.39

Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon

Dissecting a marriage with rich psychological insight, Nothing But Blue Sky finds a bereaved husband questioning the truth about the woman he thought he knew inside out.

£8.36

Summer by Ali Smith

The unmissable finale to Ali Smith’s dazzling literary tour de force, the Seasonal quartet concludes with Summer: a story about people on the brink of change and family who think they’re strangers. Insightful, entertaining and utterly brilliant.

£14.99