Hilary Mantel's final Thomas Cromwell novel among 13 books longlisted for 2020 Booker Prize
Hilary Mantel is among the 13 authors longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. The British author made the list for the novel The Mirror & the Light, which is the third and final book in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy.
The award, worth £50,000 (approx. $86,990 Cdn), annually recognizes the best original novel written in the English language published in the U.K.
The Mirror & the Light charts Cromwell's continued rise and precipitous fall in the final years of his life, while England was experiencing political, social and religious turmoil and Henry was going through more wives. Cromwell himself was executed in 1540.
The Mirror & the Light is also a finalist for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Mantel won the Booker Prize twice previously, for the two earlier instalments of the series — first in 2009 for Wolf Hall, and again in 2012 for its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies.
Mantel told CBC Radio's Writers & Company host Eleanor Wachtel in 2012 that a feeling that the real life story of Thomas Cromwell hadn't been told fuelled her desire to write the trilogy.
"I think historical fiction is in many ways a project of recovery, rediscovery and, sometimes, rehabilitation," she said. "He was very central to King Henry VIII's reign — he was his chief minister for almost 10 years during the tumultuous decade of the 1530s. He's a fascinating man in his own right."
The longlist features eight debut writers, including American Kiley Reid. Reid is nominated for her novel Such a Fun Age.
Such a Fun Age is about a 25-year-old Black woman who works as a nanny for an affluent white family. As their relationship becomes increasingly complicated, the novel explores race, class and the nature of work.
Other first time writers on the list include Americans Diane Cook, Brandon Taylor, Avni Doshi, and U.K. writers Gabriel Krauze, C Pam Zhang and Sophie Ward, and Scottish American writer Douglas Stuart,
No Canadians made the 2020 longlist.
The complete longlist is:
- The New Wilderness by Diane Cook
- This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
- Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze
- The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
- Apeirogon by Colum McCann
- The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
- Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
- Real Life by Brandon Taylor
- Redhead by The Side of The Road by Anne Tyler
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward
- How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
The longlist was selected from 162 novels, published in the U.K. or Ireland. Since 2013, authors from any nationality have been eligible.
The 2020 jury is comprised of editor and literary critic Margaret Busby, authors Lee Child and Sameer Rahim, writer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay and translator Emily Wilson.
The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 15, 2020. The winner will be announced in November.
Margaret Atwood shared the 2019 prize with British novelist Bernardine Evaristo. Atwood was recognized for her novel The Testaments, and Evaristo for her novel Girl, Woman, Other. They split the prize money evenly.
Two other Canadians other than Atwood have won the prize since its inception in 1969: Michael Ondaatje in 1992 for The English Patient and Yann Martel in 2002 for Life of Pi.
