The artist, writer and chair of the 2024 Booker Prize panel describes this year's shortlist: the six best novels of the year published in English, in the judges' view. The winner will be announced on 12 November.
James
Everett has described his novel as a "conversation" with the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". It is a powerful conversation. Jim, an enslaved man who discovers he is to be sold away from his family, becomes James, a potently articulate protagonist and commentator in the tumult of the Deep South.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Available on The Week Bookshop
Orbital
Samantha Harvey, 2023
Set on the International Space Station over 24 hours, this short and lyrical novel charts the lives of the six people in the cramped spacecraft as they observe the world beneath them, in all its beauty and vulnerability.
Available on The Week Bookshop
Creation Lake
Rachel Kushner, 2024
An uncategorisable novel – part spy-story, part- meditation on prehistory – that takes an American assassin to rural France to infiltrate a community of eco-activists. Funny, resonant and totally gripping, it asks searching questions about our compulsion to understand where we come from.
Available on The Week Bookshop
The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden, 2024
Set in the Netherlands after WWII, this is a compelling story of obsession and secrets. It is quietly devastating, simultaneously a love story and a narrative of life after the Holocaust.
Available on The Week Bookshop
Held
Anne Michaels, 2023
This kaleidoscope of a novel is created from the scattered images and memories of four generations of a family. Through fragmentary passages, it asks with tenderness: "Who can say what happens when we are remembered?"
Available on The Week Bookshop
Stone Yard Devotional
Charlotte Wood, 2024
Stranded in middle-age, a woman returns to the place in which she grew up to join a small convent. This beautifully modulated book is set against the pandemic and the climate crisis. It explores the intimacy of living in intense proximity with an almost miraculous sensitivity.
Available on The Week Bookshop
-
Switzerland could vote to cap its populationUnder the Radar Swiss People’s Party proposes referendum on radical anti-immigration measure to limit residents to 10 million
-
Political cartoons for February 15Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include political ventriloquism, Europe in the middle, and more
-
The broken water companies failing England and WalesExplainer With rising bills, deteriorating river health and a lack of investment, regulators face an uphill battle to stabilise the industry
-
A thrilling foodie city in northern JapanThe Week Recommends The food scene here is ‘unspoilt’ and ‘fun’
-
Tourangelle-style pork with prunes recipeThe Week Recommends This traditional, rustic dish is a French classic
-
Samurai: a ‘blockbuster’ display of Japan’s legendary warriorsThe Week Recommends British Museum show offers a ‘scintillating journey’ through ‘a world of gore, power and artistic beauty’
-
BMW iX3: a ‘revolution’ for the German car brandThe Week Recommends The electric SUV promises a ‘great balance between ride comfort and driving fun’
-
Mail incoming: 9 well-made products to jazz up your letters and cardsThe Week Recommends Get the write stuff
-
Arcadia: Tom Stoppard’s ‘masterpiece’ makes a ‘triumphant’ returnThe Week Recommends Carrie Cracknell’s revival at the Old Vic ‘grips like a thriller’
-
My Father’s Shadow: a ‘magically nimble’ love letter to LagosThe Week Recommends Akinola Davies Jr’s touching and ‘tender’ tale of two brothers in 1990s Nigeria
-
Send Help: Sam Raimi’s ‘compelling’ plane-crash survival thrillerThe Week Recommends Rachel McAdams stars as an office worker who gets stranded on a desert island with her boss
