#Restless Dolly Maunder

[lilianeruyters]

Kate Grenville || Restless Dolly Maunder

Longlist 2024 At first I was captivated by Restless Dolly Maunder. I loved the way Dolly’s way of speaking resembled the dryness of her Australian surroundings, I loved the fact that she was determined to make something out of her life. Somewhere halfway through I felt that she started repeating herself. Which in itself unfortunately was a fact in her life: as a woman she just could not beat the…

[seeingorange]

Review: Restless Dolly Maunder

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024, Restless Dolly Maunder is veteran Kate Grenville’s latest novel. In this historical fiction she reimagines the story of her grandmother’s life.  Dolly Maunder grows up on a rural farm but when she realises that the hard work and daily struggle of her mother and older sisters will be her future, even when she marries on to another farm, she…

[bosquedemel]

The full list in alphabetical order by author surname is:

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright, published by Jonathan Cape

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan, published by Viking

Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville, published by Canongate Books

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, published by Jonathan Cape

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy, published by Faber & Faber

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure, published by Duckworth

[alexsfictionaddiction]

The Women's Prize for Fiction 2024 Shortlist is Here!

I have spent the last few weeks voraciously reading the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction and I'm delighted to say that I only have a few left to read. So, I will definitely be completing it before the winner is announced, which is highly exciting. I originally wanted to finish them all before the shortlist announcement and I can definitely say that I gave it a really good go!

I have managed to read 12 of the longlist and I'm currently reading two others with the other two lined up. It has been a really great year for the prize and I'm so happy that I decided to follow it again.

So, here is the shortlist!

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright. Published by Vintage on 31st August 2023.

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan. Published by Viking on 29th June 2023.

Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville. Published by Canongate Books on 2nd November 2023.

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. Published by Vintage on 6th April 2023.

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy. Published by Faber & Faber on 2nd May 2023.

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure. Published by Duckworth on 25th January 2024.

I have read The Wren, The Wren, Restless Dolly Maunder, Enter Ghost and Soldier Sailor and thought they were all fantastic. I am about 75% of the way through Brotherless Night and I honestly think this may be my winner so far. I own the eBook edition of River East, River West, so it will be my next Kindle read.

I have to praise the judges this year for selecting such a diverse range of books for the longlist. I am disappointed that And Then She Fell and The Maiden aren't on the shortlist, as they were both five star reads for me and are both books I'm still thinking about. So, if you're planning on reading any of the longlist despite them not being shortlisted, I'd recommend both of those.

The winner of both the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction will be announced on 13th June and I cannot wait!

Have you read of the Women's Prize books this year? Which were your favourites? Are you happy with the shortlist? Let me know!

[wellesleybooks]

Women's Prize for Fiction 2024

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world.

The judging panel for the 2024 prize is chaired by author Monica Ali. She is joined by author Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀; author and illustrator Laura Dockrill; actor Indira Varma; and presenter and author Anna Whitehouse.

The longlist titles announced today are:

Hangman by Maya Binyam

In Defence of the Act by Effie Black

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright

The Maiden by Kate Foster

 Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan

 Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville

 Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

 Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee

The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure

A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams

[seeingorange]

Review: Restless Dolly Maunder

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024, Restless Dolly Maunder is veteran Kate Grenville’s latest novel. In this historical fiction she reimagines the story of her grandmother’s life.  Dolly Maunder grows up on a rural farm but when she realises that the hard work and daily struggle of her mother and older sisters will be her future, even when she marries on to another farm, she…

[alexsfictionaddiction]

The Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist is here!

Tonight is the night! The announcement of the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist is such an exciting day. It is, as many book lovers call it, Bookish Christmas, as we're presented with 16 books that have been judged to be examples of fantastic female writing. Looks like it's going to be a good year!

The Women's Prize for Fiction is an annual book prize that is open to any full-length novel originally written in English by a woman. This year, books must have been published in the UK between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. I have been following the prize for at least five or six years now and my favourite thing about it is that it often introduces me to books that I've never heard of and possibly wouldn't have picked up otherwise. I cannot explain how exciting that is to me and I know that some of you feel the same too.

So, here is this year's longlist!

A Trace Of Sun by Pam Williams. Published by Legend Press on 1st March 2024.

Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan. Published by Vintage on 13th July 2023.

Hangman by Maya Binyam. Published by Pushkin ONE on 3rd August 2023.

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy. Published by Faber & Faber on 2nd May 2023.

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright. Published by Vintage on 31st August 2023.

The Maiden by Kate Foster. Published by Mantle on 27th April 2023.

8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Miranae Lee. Published by Virago on 4th May 2023.

Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie. Published by Oneworld on 13th June 2023.

In Defence of the Act by Effie Black. Published by époque Press on 13th July 2023.

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo. Published by Picador on 11th May 2023.

Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville. Published by Canongate Books on 2nd November 2023.

River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure. Published by Duckworth on 25th January 2024.

Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan. Published by Viking on 29th June 2023.

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. Published by Vintage on 6th April 2023.

The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord. Published by Gollancz on 31st August 2023.

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott. Published by Allen and Unwin on 28th September 2023.

I am delighted to know that I own half of them, which means I can get started on reading them as soon as possible. However, I have currently read zero, so I have a lot to read!

I think a lot of people will be surprised to see some big names omitted from this list, as Zadie Smith, Ann Patchett, Naomi Alderman and Jesmyn Ward all had eligible novels. I watched quite a few prediction videos and I don't think I saw anyone get more than two or three of these right, so, it's certainly a year of surprises. However, for me that makes it even more exciting, as I probably wouldn't have read the half of the list that I don't own. I cannot wait to get stuck in!

The shortlist will be announced on 24th April and the winner will be announced along with the winner of the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction on 13th June.

What do you think of the longlist? How many have you read? How many are you interested in? Let me know!