2025 Booker Prize speculation

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Yes Kunzru was an IB judge - in 2018.

[Jill]

This year promises to be a banner year for literary books. Twist by Colum McCann, Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, and The Antidote by Karen Russell are all so good. I'm currently reading Maria Reva's Endling, which is also promising. The judges will have a tough choice -- and the year is only beginning.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I have read Twist but you have persuaded me to request on NetGalley the other two you have completed

[Cindy]

Ben wrote: "I’m finding the meme-y vibe on the Booker Instagram account lately so weird."

Same, Ben.

Confessions and Auditions are both getting a lot of pre-pub buzz on this side of the pond (I think Confessions actually was published on the 14th here but I have not gotten my copy yet). Excited for both but had assumed more of a WP potential.

[Roman Clodia]

I may be an outlier on Confessions but it was only a 2-star book for me. I just felt I'd read that family saga of three generations of Irish women many times before. The writing is fluent but not stylish or distinctive.

Audition is excellent - a bit too 'literary' for Booker? It strikes me more as Goldsmith's potential.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I see Confessions as more a WP longlist contender.

I agree Audition is more Goldsmithy … but is the author eligible. She is married to a UK citizen (himself a potential Goldsmith outsider in past years), lived here for quite a spell years back and may possibly have a house here but not sure of any of that quite works?

[Mohamed]

I have an ARC of Flashlight and I am struggling with it (or was). I don't know what to make of it to be honest.

Choi's writing is very dense yet accessible. I dnf the novel at page 220 but got stuck in my mind and returned to it after 4 days. I have mixed feeling about it, there are so many details an but still the story is gripping and the characters never fallen flat. Am at the last 100 pages which are quick and resolve everything.
nevertheless, it needs some editing for sure.

Have anyone read it? I would love to hear your thoughts!

[Mohamed]

Oyinkan Braithwaite authour of My sister is a serial killer has a new novel coming in September.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cursed-Daugh...

[Owen]

Observer Debut Novelists 2025 announced on Instagram:

Gurnaik Johal - Saraswati
John Patrick McHugh - Fun and Games
William Rayfet Hunter - Sunstruck
Wendy Erskine - The Benefactors
Marcia Hutchinson
Catherine Airey - Confessions
Rowe Irvin - Life Cycle of a Moth
Roisín O'Donnell - Nesting
Anthony Shapland - A Room Above a Shop
Garrett Carr - The Boy from the Sea
Nussaibah Younis - Fundamentally

I couldn't find the title of Marcia Hutchinson's novel, does anyone know?

[Rachel]

I believe it’s called The Mercy Step.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

We collectively called 5 of those I think on this trail (and we only mentioned around a dozen names).

I have read 4

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

The Benefactors – 5*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Confessions – 4*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nesting – 4*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Room Above A Shop - 4*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Boy From The Sea – 4*
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Paula]

Interesting list! I had already added seven of these to the eligibility list, was too lazy to add Sunstruck too, and Younis, Irvin and Hutchinson are new names to me.

[Sam]

Here is the full Guardian article:


https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

[Paul]

Life Cycle of a Moth leaps out from those, if the Eimear McBride / Lucas Rijneveld influences do show through.

She also previously appeared in Unquiet Slumbers: An Anthology of Folk Horror Tales edited by Edward Parnell, a UEA graduate, brought up in Kings Lynn and now living near Norwich, whose Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country takes it's stylistic cues from Sebald's Rings of Saturn, and, although it roams around the UK, centres around Norfolk.

[Nadine in California]

Jill wrote: "This year promises to be a banner year for literary books. Twist by Colum McCann, Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, and The Antidote by Karen Russell are all so good. I'm currently reading Maria Reva's ..."

I can't imagine three books I want to read more! I'm fighting the pre-order urge. I've entered the GR giveaways, but my chances are about even with having dinner with extraterrestrials. But it doesn't hurt to hope for either.....

[Cindy]

Roman Clodia wrote: "I may be an outlier on Confessions but it was only a 2-star book for me. I just felt I'd read that family saga of three generations of Irish women many times before. The writing is fluent but not s..."

I am with you. I read it over the weekend and was disappointed by it. I thought the opening was very strong and Cora was a very interesting character, but then we get almost nothing more of her for the rest of the novel. I also thought the ending was painfully contrived and that one of the core tensions (the abortion debate in Ireland) was not given nearly enough space and attention.

[Cindy]

Sam wrote: "Here is the full Guardian article:


https://www.theguardian.com/books/202..."

Thanks Sam. This is a solid list!

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Easier to reply here than under my Insta Post (as Catherine Airey was copied there). I agree Cora was a great character and the ending was too contrived for me - but I still liked the book overall and I think it will appeal widely. But it’s a WP rather than Booker book.

[Cindy]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Easier to reply here than under my Insta Post (as Catherine Airey was copied there). I agree Cora was a great character and the ending was too contrived for me - but I still liked the book overall ..."

Completely agree that it is more a WP book.

[Roman Clodia]

Cindy wrote: "Completely agree that it is more a WP book."

I think I'd even be disappointed if it's on the WP list: it just felt very ordinary to me. I didn't find it particularly well-crafted: there are plot holes, the voices of all the narrators sound the same, it's too long, the 'secrets' were transparent, the game felt like an add-in... I agree the start was the best bit.

It certainly has wide appeal - but is that all we're looking for for our prize lists?

I should add Airey has a fluent way of writing so I will be interested in seeing how she develops.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

On wide appeal - on the WP yes to a large extent particularly at longlist stage.

[Nicholas]

Mohamed wrote: "Oyinkan Braithwaite authour of My sister is a serial killer has a new novel coming in September.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cursed-Daugh......"

I'm looking forward to this. I initially found My Sister the Serial Killer a bit commercial but I think about it and recommend it somewhat frequently. So much of the Nigerian literature that gets celebrated abroad is focused on the civil war and its lasting trauma, so it was refreshing to read something about contemporary, urban, middle class characters.

Glad to hear folks here like the Kitamura, it's also high on my anticipation list. I'm a Kunzru fan too – quite the literary power couple! – even his recent ones that had more of a mixed reception. The New York Times review of Blue Ruin read like a hit piece. Really felt to me like the critic had a vendetta against him.

[Paul]

Just to say I loved the Kitamura. Which given the usual overlap between my taste and the Booker prize means it has zero chance of making the list :-)

[Mohamed]

Fitzcarraldo Editions has snapped up Claire-Louise Bennett’s Big Kiss, Bye-Bye.
Publisher Jacques Testard acquired UK, Europe and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Peter Straus at RCW. NA rights were acquired by Rebecca Saletan at Riverhead from Melanie Jackson at Melanie Jackson Literary Agency, on behalf of Peter Straus at RCW.
The synopsis states: "Uprooted by circumstance from city to deep countryside, the narrator of Big Kiss, Bye-Bye lives in temporary limbo, visited by memories of all she has left behind. The most insistent are those of Xavier, who has always been certain he knows her better than anyone, better than she knows herself. It is Xavier, whom she still loves but no longer desires, who experiences a displacement he has been unable to accept.
"An unexpected letter from an old acquaintance brings back a torrent of others she’s loved or wanted […] In yet another tour de force of fiction, Claire-Louise Bennett explores the mystery of how people come into and go out of our lives, leaving us forever in their grasp."
Bennett said: "Big Kiss, Bye-Bye is the beginning of a new phase of work which gets into areas of private life I’ve wanted to explore artistically for a very long time."
Testard added: "I am delighted, as are my colleagues, to be publishing Claire-Louise Bennett’s Big Kiss, Bye-Bye. It’s a very powerful and tender novel about love and how we relate to one another. It’s surprising, funny, insightful, moving, tender, odd, and exceptionally well written. I’d follow her sentences anywhere: she is an extraordinary stylist, one of the very best in the English language, and everyone at Fitzcarraldo Editions is excited to be publishing this book, which is sure to be an event."
The book will be published on 9th October 2025.

[Paul]

Wow - that is great news. Pond is I think of the great novels of the 21st century.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

New Isabel Waidner out to as well next year - they posted a picture of a manuscript copy (but I don’t have details anymore).

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Mohamed wrote: "Fitzcarraldo Editions has snapped up Claire-Louise Bennett’s Big Kiss, Bye-Bye.
Publisher Jacques Testard acquired UK, Europe and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Peter Straus at RCW. NA..."
Definitely one to look forward to.

[Paul]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "New Isabel Waidner out to as well next year - they posted a picture of a manuscript copy (but I don’t have details anymore)."

Why wasn't I told! And was it one of those weird disappearing Instagram post things?

Presumably being lined up for October 2026 to tie with the Nobel Prize (logical conclusion of Committee's recent approach of using my GR reviews to make their picks)

[Ruben]

I read both 'Confessions' and 'Nesting' in the past two weeks.

Very much agree with you all that the start of Confessions was its best part, I would have liked to remain with the main character and have a more pyschological rather than plot-based novel. But I remained invested and ultimately gave it a 3,5 rounded up.

'Nesting' felt more serious and mature - not somebody telling you a story, but a realistic portrait of a woman going through a separation. Although I rated it the same as Confessions, I believe it has a better chance of making the Booker longlist.

Now on to Eimear McBride and that's the Irish contingent done...

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Just finished the McBride. The Booker’s failure to ever longlist her is very odd.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

My thoughts on the McBride - currently number 2 of the 30 Listopia books I have read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mohamed]

## **BOOK CLUB EXCLUSIVE: BOOKER PRIZE 2025 DATES**

Before we dive head-first into International Booker Prize season, we'd like to share the Booker Prize 2025 dates for your diary:
* **Longlist**: 26 July
* **Shortlist**: 23 September
* **Ceremony**: 10 November

And in case you need the International Booker dates again:
* **Longlist**: 25 February
* **Shortlist**: 8 April
* **Ceremony**: 20 May

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Competing the Longlist in July with these dates is going to be a little tricky

[Ben]

They’ve posted different dates on Instagram.

Longlist: 29 July
Shortlist: 23 September
Winner: 10 November

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I think the 26th was a typo - they would not announce on a Saturday.

[Paul]

29th was also what they said on X.

[Antonomasia, Admin only]

Juice by Tim Winton is currently top of the GR Booker-eligible list, and in this article, it gets an enthusiastic (but somewhat spoilery) shout out from Nikesh Shukla, founder of the Jhalak Prize: https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I have that lined up as soon as I have finished the IB and WP - it’s had some very positive reviews in the media and a bit more mixed on Insta and here

[Ben]

I really wanted to love Juice, but found it pretty bad. Poorly plotted, extremely unsatisfying, and outstays its welcome.

[Paul]

Is featuring one of the judges a good way to make the Booker list, or counterproductive if you take them as a symbol of a certain type of celebrity culture?

From my latest read - which on merit certainly deserves a place on the longlist:

He was poised to become the new Franzen— an apt description I thought, because his writing was just as solipsistic, self-congratulatory, and mediocre as Franzen’s, although it was sexier, perhaps because Alexander had the experience of having once been a very good-looking man and Franzen had not. But even as Alexander’s debut novel, which was in fact his second though we weren’t allowed to mention that, was widely celebrated, he refused to discuss literature, or even ideas, beyond the fact that he had met Andrew Wylie for coffee or that he had sat next to Sarah Jessica Parker at the PEN/Faulkner Award or that he had gone with Ben Lerner to pick out a new armchair and wound up with this hideous brown chenille wing chair, he had said once when I went over to his apartment, if it weren’t for Ben Lerner I would have never bought this hideous wing chair.

[Cindy]

This is a great quote Paul. What novel are you reading?

[Paul]

Love and Happiness by Zoe Dubno. Which is a 21st century take on Thomas Bernhard’s The Woodcutters with someone at an artistic dinner party mentally ripping all the other guests to pieces.

The narrator is particularly acerbic about Alexander who as well as the failings of his own novels refuses to read literature in translation and only reads US novels.

[BookerMT2]

I've just finished The South by Tash Aw and have to say I came away rather disappointed. Although the novel really centres around Jay and Chuan and their relationship, I found them to be the least interesting characters in the novel. The blurb on the jacket says;
"the first in a quartet of novels that form Tash Aw's masterful portrait of a family....."
I think this is where it failed for me a bit as at times I felt like I was reading an introduction to something more weighty, substantial and potentially interesting. In some ways it felt like a film trailer for the the forthcoming movie.
It is well written and there are some very good bits but I'd be disappointed if this one made the final cut.

Also read Nesting a couple of weeks back. I thought it was pretty decent on the whole but I'm starting to forget it already which isn't perhaps the best ringing endorsement. Felt a bit like a book that would have sat well with the Richard and Judie bookclub back in its heyday. There is a lot to like about it and the subject matter feels relevant and I can see a lot of people liking it. Just didn't quite do it for me.

I think a book, due out in May? that might be a sneak in is Gunk by Saba Sams. Someone gave me a proof. I'm around half way through and though it isn't my sort of novel it feels fresh and contemporary. Her short story collection Send Nudes was very well received and I can see this getting quite a lot of press attention.

[Paul]

My review of Gunk concluded:

'A quick and immersive read, although perhaps a little conventional for my taste and expectations after the Granta listing, and lacking the tension of Blue4Eva - I wonder if the short-form is the author's strong suit'

Though it did send me off in search of Buddies the real-life 24/7 cafe on Brighton seafront, now closed, which, alongside the ficticious Gunk, plays a key role in the novel:

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I agree re The South. It feels somehow unsubstantive and I do not think works sufficiently as a standalone - it’s like we are reading a sampler from a potentially very good novel.

I must admit I can still remember Nesting very distinctly - despite reading the entire International Booker (and many other books) since I read it. It’s getting huge amounts of love on instagram. But I do think it’s far more suited to the WP and would be surprised to see it in the Booker so not sure we disagree. It’s impressive for me though to see an award winning short story writer producing a detailed and developed novel rather than just attempting a very long short story.

Saba Sams for me is closer to the latter - and I think she worked better writing short short stories. The novel was disappointing for me but I agree it will get a lot of publicity - she but just had huge short story success but made the Granta Best of Young British novelists list. I will also immediately read whatever she writes next.

And I did spend an evening last week in Brighton dressed as Napoleon so there’s that.

[Sam]

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown got an inspiring reviw from tthe Guardian and I was surprised I hadn't remembered the novel from our Booker or Women's Prize speculation lists. Anyone that read it, care to share their thoughts? Novels in dialect tend to do well sometimes and my sample of this was impressive.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

That sounds intriguing. I had not heard of it until the guardian review (coincidentally Paul and I sat at the next table to the reviewer in Foyles cafe this week)

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I think I may have posted this before but I do wonder with Chris Powers if he will push for a short story collection to make the list. He was a fan of David Szalay’s “All That Man Is” for example which at times it felt like only the Booker judges saw as eligible (and which according to all rumours nearly won). Any thoughts on collections that might fit as connected?

Szalay of course has an actual definite novel out - and the themes I think will be ones that appeal to Powers.

I can see Good Girl interesting him as well given Powers first novel was in Berlin and it’s a City he knows really well.

[Emmeline]

Sam wrote: "We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown got an inspiring reviw from tthe Guardian and I was surprised I hadn't remembered the novel from our Booker or Women's ..."

I stumbled across that somewhere recently and really want to read.