Not the Booker: Emma Donoghue, Abi Daré and Shahnaz Ahsan join the shortlist
There are now six books on the 2020 Not the Booker prize shortlist. We have three more fine novels to add to the three that came from our public vote.
Our judges from last year have chosen The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. This year’s nominated book champions, bookshop Book-ish in Crickhowell and Harrogate library, current holders of the library of the year award, have nominated Hashim & Family by Shahnaz Ahsan and Akin by Emma Donoghue respectively.
Speaking on behalf of our judges, Hilary Shepherd says The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is:
A tale of modern slavery set in contemporary Nigeria. There’s an irony in the title because the voice of this book is so powerful it jumps right off the page, even while Adunni’s life is shrinking around her. You can’t help but listen to her story and plunge into the deeply foreign world she inhabits. A remarkable book, and a subject that demands to be written about.
Emma Corfield-Waters from Book-ish says that Hashim & Family by Shahnaz Ahsan, which also made the top 10 of the public vote, is:
A wonderful, enriching read. I feel that the characters will stay with me and any reader for a good while after turning the last page. Everything I want in a novel – epic, engaging, insightful and honest.
And Deborah Thornton, outreach librarian at Harrogate library, explains why Akin by Emma Donoghue is so good:
A lovely story of a retired professor being thrown unwillingly together with his 11-year-old great-nephew and how they forge a relationship. Sharp, funny and ultimately moving as these two damaged people become family. Every Emma Donoghue book is so different but always a guaranteed good read!
All of these books sound like excellent choices to me. They are welcome additions to our now completed shortlist:
Hashim & Family by Shahnaz Ahsan
Underdogs: Tooth and Nail by Chris Bonnello
The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
Akin by Emma Donoghue
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Hello Friend We Missed You by Richard Owain Roberts
I’ll be reading these books in alphabetical order by surname, and posting a review each Monday for the next six weeks, so please come back and share your thoughts as you finish each book – in whichever order you like, as we’ll keep comments open the whole time. I’m looking forward to starting, but there’s one more piece of prize admin to share.
Last year’s excellent judges have now completed their final duty and we’re looking for three more expert reviewers to be our judges for this year’s prize. One of them could be you. All you have to do to become a judge is to carefully read the books and share your opinions on them in the comments on each of my reviews – as is explained in our burning bright terms and conditions:
12. Three readers will be selected by the Guardian to form a panel of judges from those readers who have made substantial contributions to the discussion of the shortlisted books. The process by which these readers are chosen is also left studiously vague and at the Guardian’s discretion. These judges undertake to read at least three of the six-book shortlist before the final judging meeting.
13. A judging meeting will be organised online on the morning of Monday 26 October 2020. The winner of the public vote will be allotted two votes at this meeting. The reader judges will each have one vote and will come to a decision on the overall winner in a live online event, with Sam Jordison wielding a casting vote, if required. And no kvetching.
If you want to get a sense of what that judging meeting is like, you can’t watch last year’s because we had a technical issue; we were pre-virus, video-glitch pioneers. But our increased knowledge of all things Zoom will stand us in good stead this year. You can also watch the recording of our 2018 meeting to see how things generally shake out – and if you do watch it, you will also see how good judges can be at overruling my opinions. Speaking of which, my review of Hashim & Family by Shahnaz Ahsan will be appearing here next week, when you’ll be welcome to disagree with me, too. It’s all part of the fun.
