Reader Zone: Reviews and Award Winners

The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker
 

The Twin, a debut novel by Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker, has won the 2010 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award. The Award is organized by Dublin City Libraries, on behalf of Dublin City Council and sponsored by IMPAC, an international management productivity company.

When his twin brother dies in a car accident, Helmer is obliged to return to the small family farm. He resigns himself to taking over his brother's role and spending the rest of his days 'with his head under a cow'. After his old, worn-out father has been transferred upstairs, Helmer sets about furnishing the rest of the house according to his own minimal preferences. 'A double bed and a duvet', advises Ada, who lives next door, with a sly look. Then Riet appears, the woman once engaged to marry his twin. Could Riet and her son live with him for a while, on the farm?"The Twin" is an ode to the platteland, the flat and bleak Dutch countryside with its ditches and its cows and its endless grey skies. Ostensibly a novel about the countryside, as seen through the eyes of a farmer, "The Twin" is, in the end, about the possibility or impossibility of taking life into one's own hands. It chronicles a way of life which has resisted modernity, is culturally apart, and yet riven with a kind of romantic longing.

Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel

Hilary Mantel was last night (Tuesday 6 October) named the winner of the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for Wolf Hall, published by Fourth Estate. Wolf Hall has been the bookies' favourite since the longlist was announced in July 2009. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel was picked from a shortlist of six titles. A.S. Byatt, J.M. Coetzee,  Adam Foulds, Simon Mawer and Sarah Waters were all shortlisted for this year's prize.

Wolf Hall is set in the 1520s and tells the story of Thomas Cromwell's rise to prominence in the Tudor court.  Hilary Mantel has been praised by critics for writing ‘a rich, absorbingly readable historical novel; she has made a significant shift in the way any of her readers interested in English history will henceforward think about Thomas Cromwell.' James Naughtie, comments ‘Hilary Mantel has given us a thoroughly modern novel set in the 16th century.  Wolf Hall has a vast narrative sweep that gleams on every page with luminous and mesmerising detail. ‘It probes the mysteries of power by examining and describing the meticulous dealings in Henry VIII's court, revealing in thrilling prose how politics and history is made by men and women. ‘In the words of Mantel's Thomas Cromwell, whose story this is, "the fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions.  This is how the world changes." '

This is the first time the publisher Fourth Estate has had a Man Booker Prize winner. They have previously published three shortlisted books - Nicola Barker's Darkmans (2007) and Carol Shields' novels Unless (2002) and The Stone Diaries (1993).

Hilary Mantel spent five years writing Wolf Hall and she is currently working on a sequel.

James Naughtie, Chair of the judges, made the announcement, which was broadcast by the BBC from the awards dinner at London's Guildhall. Peter Clarke, Chief Executive of Man Group plc, presented Hilary Mantel with a cheque for £50,000. Over and above her prize of £50,000, Hilary Mantel may expect a huge increase in sales and recognition worldwide. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer-bound edition of their book. This year, shortlisted authors will also receive a year's membership to The Groucho Club in London.

The judging panel for the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction was: broadcaster and author James Naughtie (Chair); Lucasta Miller, biographer and critic; Michael Prodger, Literary Editor of The Sunday Telegraph; Professor John Mullan, academic and author and Sue Perkins, comedian and broadcaster.

Man Booker Prize Shortlisted Authors

The Childrens Book by A.S Byatt

The judges say: "What is so extraordinary about this book is the way it doesn't read like a book that's been researched… it's the accumulation of a lifetime's reading. The depth of knowledge in it is extraordinary." (Lucasta Miller)

Summertime by J.M Coetzee

The judges say: "What is most remarkable about this book is the unbelievably self-flagellatory picture that Coetzee paints of himself… it's very painful to read in many places." (Michael Prodger)

The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds

The judges say: "It is a book that blossomed through re-reading… it's a very poignant study of insanity… and it's got a great recipe for hedgehogs." (Sue Perkins)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The judges say: "Absolutely gripping, a huge bold novel with a fantastic historical sweep - you can hear the rustle of Wolsey's gown in some darkened room at Westminster." (James Naughtie)

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

The judges say: "A hypnotic read - a sweeping confidence and scope. Mawer is an author on top of his form. Rather like the glass room which is the essence of the book... the book itself is beautifully proportioned." (James Naughtie) 

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

The judges say: "It's a kind of mystery story, or a kind of ghost story, but it also blends that with an extraordinarily attentive social realism. When I was reading this there were long stretches when I forget that I was doing the Man Booker, I was so absorbed in it." (John Mullan)