WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION | SHORTLIST PREDICTIONS 2019

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of my favourite literary prizes. Regardless of the judges and books in a given year, the prize always raises the profile of books written by women, and that’s something I can definitely get behind.

This year’s list isn’t my favourite, but there are some titles I was surprised and excited to see on the list, along with some books I hadn’t heard of previously and am thrilled to have discovered. You can see my original longlist prediction post here, and how I did at my predictions (I correctly predicted pretty much half the list) here. I’m going to be publishing one more review of a book on the longlist (Circe by Madeline Miller) tomorrow, so look out for that final two cents. My track record this year is good so far, so I’m excited and nervous to see how I do with my shortlist predictions!

The contenders are (links provided to those I’ve reviewed):

Freshwater – Akwaeke Emezi
Milkman – Anna Burns
My Sister the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
Normal People – Sally Rooney
Swansong – Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
Remembered – Yvonne Battle-Felton
Circe – Madeline Miller (review coming tomorrow)
An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
Ordinary People – Diana Evans
Praise Song for the Butterflies – Bernice L. McFadden
The Silence of the Girls – Pat Barker
Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
Number One Chinese Restaurant – Lillian Li
The Pisces – Melissa Broder
Ghost Wall – Sarah Moss
Bottled Goods – Sophie van Llewyn

I’ve been picking my way through the longlist and have now read five of the books completely and am part way through two. I don’t think all the books I read will make the shortlist, but at least a few of them definitely will.

So without further ado, here are the books I think are most likely to make the shortlist!

Of these I have read three completely and two in part. And while I liked Circe and Normal People, An American Marriage is the one that really got me. The writing was beautiful and it really made me feel. I’m only part way through Milkman, but I get why it has been both so widely raved about and so widely criticized. I think it’s a marmite book, and if you can’t roll with the Irish way of thinking and talking, you’re not going to be interested in this one. So I think I’m mostly rooting for An American Marriage at this point, if indeed these are the books to make the shortlist.

There are a few others that I either hope might make it and/or think could make it:

Praise Song for the Butterflies is the book out of all of these I kept wavering about including on my shortlist prediction instead of Ghost Wall or Freshwater. I’ve heard wonderful things about it, and I really wouldn’t be surprised to see it there. Swan Song isn’t there because I think the subject matter has less universal appeal, and I’ve heard it’s a bit long. Remembered has garnered a lot of praise but some criticism, though I can’t honestly remember what for right now. The Silence of the Girls is hailed as being well written, but apparently it switches halfway through from the female perspective to Achilles’ and for a supposedly feminist retelling on a Women’s Prize list, I’m really hoping that will keep it from making the shortlist, because come on. And finally, Ordinary People. I see issues with this book. It can be long-winded, the character development is uneven, the gothic element is incongruous and some of the themes get a bit muddy. But it is also full of the truth of being a woman, in particular a mother, in today’s society. The pressures, the invisibility, the constant judgement and fear. That spoke to me because it’s my every day. So I think it has an important perspective not told often enough, and it’s enough for me to forgive the flaws in the writing. I don’t think everyone else will feel the same way.

I’m really not confident about these predictions. I started off this post a couple of weeks ago feeling pretty good about my handle on the books based on my own reading and all the reviews I’ve watched. Then I watched a few more and started to have some doubts. Then I heard people saying things like Madeline Miller won’t win because no one has won the prize twice, or they won’t put the Man Booker winner on the list, and I got really really confused. So now I’m just throwing out guesses partly based on which books have mostly been getting good reviews and which ones I thought had the widest literary appeal of the ones I’ve read. Let’s see if I’ve got any mojo left when the list drops on Monday! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, particularly if you’ve read any of the books on the list. Which book on the list was your favourite? Which of the ones you haven’t read left are you most interested in? Which does your gut tell you is most likely to win?