Nine Booker-nominated books that present a range of experiences of motherhood

From loving mothers to estranged families, discover our list of books, nominated for the Booker Prize and International Booker Prize, that show motherhood in all its forms.

Among the 600+ books that have been nominated for the Booker Prizes over the years there are many that focus on the relationships between mothers and their children, from a variety of perspectives. The following list of Booker- and International Booker-nominated books doesn’t shy away from the unvarnished reality of family life, with this list offering a mix of the loving and the unpredictable, the wise and the chaotic. Not all of the women in these books are likely to win a Mother of the Year prize any time soon, but all are hugely memorable literary creations. 

The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman, translated by Leslie Camhi

Originally published in French and longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize, Violaine Huisman’s debut novel, The Book of Mother, is a fictionalised memoir of the author’s childhood as she navigates life with her unpredictable and chaotic mother. Catherine ‘smokes too much, drives too fast, laughs too hard and loves too extravagantly’ – she is a force of nature in her children’s world, becoming increasingly dependent on her two daughters as she struggles to function. The novel is divided into three parts: it chronicles Huisman’s complicated relationship with her mother as a child, then Catherine’s traumatic life story, before ending with Huisman looking back and reflecting on her mother’s life. While deeply flawed, reckless and often neglectful, Catherine suffers from poor mental health which results in several hospital stays and a diagnosis of manic depression. Leslie Camhi has said that writing the book was a way to make her mother ‘live again’.

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Recovering from a routine surgery, Lucy Barton’s estranged mother decides to visit her in hospital, staying by her bedside for five days. Her visit forces Lucy to reminisce on her life in the small town of Amgash, Illinois, as well as contemplate her future. She looks back on a childhood filled with isolation, abuse and poverty, and considers her life now – she lives and works in New York as a successful writer with two daughters. Lucy ponders her own role as a mother and questions whether her own mother truly loves her, having never quite felt the care and affection for which she yearned. While Lucy’s mother is reserved and stoic, Lucy herself tries hard to have a close and loving relationship with her mother – and her children. This introspective and powerful short novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2016. 

Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund

Is Mother Dead follows Johanna, an artist who is recently widowed, and who returns to her home city of Oslo for a retrospective exhibition of her artwork. After trying to contact her estranged family, Johanna starts stalking her elderly, emotionally unavailable mother, and seeking some sort of closure. Longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023, the book explores the complexities of a toxic mother-daughter relationship as pride, humiliation and resentment envelop the two women. According to Kirkus, ‘[Johanna] is compelling in her desire to understand what it means to be a fully grown woman and yet still need your mother.’ In the Guardian, Susie Mesure wrote: ‘The question of what children owe their parents and vice versa lies at the heart of this raw novel.’

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

The 2020 Booker Prize winner, Shuggie Bain, follows the life of Hugh ‘Shuggie’ Bain throughout his poverty-stricken childhood in Glasgow in the 1980s. A heartbreaking novel that revolves around the love between a damaged mother and her son, Shuggie Bain explores what happens when the parent-child relationship collapses and is then reversed. After Shuggie’s father leaves, Agnes spirals into alcoholism, neglecting her three children, while still taking a deep pride in her appearance publicly. As she becomes more incapable of daily tasks, Shuggie takes on more and more responsibility. And even though Agnes struggles to rid herself of her addictions, her love for Shuggie – as he struggles with his own identity – can be clearly seen as she tries to provide him with something he truly needs: hope.

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman

A mammoth book spanning over 1,000 pages, Ducks, Newburyport explores the inner workings of an unnamed Ohio housewife and mother of four, who provides musings on her mundane life, her anxieties, memories and the people around her. A dutiful mother, she spends most of her time caring for her children – and their story of her ordinary life is set against that of a mountain lion and her cubs, a metaphor for the woman’s relationship with her children. The narrator also provides insight into her relationship with her own mother and her struggles with grief after her mother died young. The book was shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize, and The Australian said that ‘Ellmann encapsulates existence in the 21st century, its dimensions and its contours, while offering an intense portrait of motherhood, of mothering and of being mothered.’

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Sharing (controversially) the top spot for the 2019 Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, Girl, Woman, Other explores an array of female experiences across multiple generations. Evaristo includes four sets of mothers and daughters, each with their own unique relationships and observations of the world. There’s rebellious theatre director Amma and her strong-minded daughter, Yazz, who butt heads over their respective beliefs. Business owner Bummi just wants the best for her daughter Carole, while Winsome is puzzled by her daughter Shirley’s constant state of unhappiness. The story also goes back a generation as Grace, born in the early 1900s, is left orphaned and grows up in a home for girls. As first-generation immigrants, many of these mothers just want their daughters to take advantage of opportunities that were not afforded to them. 

Room by Emma Donoghue

A novel that shows the expanse of maternal love under brutal circumstances, Room was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010. The book is narrated by five-year-old Jack, who lives in a ten-by-ten foot room with his Ma. Jack believes that what’s inside this ‘Room’ is the only reality, unaware of what lies outside. Despite their terrible plight, Ma is determined to make Jack’s life as normal as possible, keeping him happy and healthy without divulging the events that have led them to their current situation. She keeps him entertained, creating poems and making up stories to get through the day. According to the Guardian, ‘Jack’s tale is more than a victim-and-survivor story: it works as a study of child development, shows the power of language and storytelling, and is a kind of sustained poem in praise of motherhood and parental love.’

Boulder by Eva Baltasar, translated by Julia Sanches

A woman nicknamed ‘Boulder’ becomes an unreluctant mother after she falls in love with another woman, Samsa, who decides that she wants to have a child before it’s too late. As newborn Tinna enters the world, Boulder finds Samsa becoming more distant, prioritising motherhood over their relationship. Finding herself on a largely unwanted journey, Boulder must decide whether her love for Samsa will override her need for freedom. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023, the book explores the pressures of motherhood and how the dynamics of a relationship changes. As Eva Baltasar says, ‘Motherhood is not a double-sided coin. It’s more complex, polyphonic, and, like all relationships, it is alive, in motion.’

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey

Still Born explores the complex decisions women make when deciding to bear children. Shortlisted, along with Boulder, for the International Booker Prize in 2023, the novel explores complex experiences of motherhood, which encompass joy, grief, ambivalence and more. Alina and Laura are two friends in their mid-thirties, ambitious and independent, and had both been unsure of whether children would be in their futures. As time passes Alina changes her mind and becomes pregnant, facing unforeseen challenges along the way. Laura, instead, resolute in not caving to societal pressures of motherhood, decides to get her tubes tied. But maternal instincts seem to become uncovered after Laura forms an attachment to her neighbour’s son. As Alina comes to terms with her new reality, her thoughts start to spiral as she acknowledges what her own version of motherhood may look like. 

Published on March 7, 2024 on The Booker Prizes

13 of the best magical realism books nominated for the Booker Prizes

Discover a range of Booker-nominated books that cross over into the magical realism genre, where the ordinary meets the extraordinary.  

While magical realism is a relatively recent trend in literature, its ability to allow the reader to see the world from a fresh perspective means it is now one of the more popular. Seamlessly converging the mundane with the mystical, books in the genre are grounded in reality, but draw on traditions of oral storytelling, folklore, fables mythology and the supernatural, to allow readers a portal to another world.   

‘The way in which magic realism actually works is for the magic to be rooted in the real.’ Salman Rushie, winner of the Booker Prize 1981 for his novel Midnight’s Children, once said. ‘It’s both things. It’s not just a fairytale moment. It’s the surrealism that arises out of the real,’ he emphasised. 

The term itself was first coined by a German art critic, Franz Roh, in 1925, to describe post-expressionist paintings that captured the rational world alongside magical or dream-like elements. It wasn’t until 1955, when critic Angel Flores introduced the phrase into literature, that it became a recognised genre.  

Since then, the genre has exploded. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, nominated for the International Booker Prize for his entire body of work in 2005, set the stage with his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967, and many authors then followed suit. Booker Prize-nominated authors, such as Yann Martel, Shokoofeh Azar and 2022’s winner, Shehan Karunatilika, continue to combine fact with fantasy – the best of their novels can be found in this list. 

Life of Pi by Yann Martel 

Winner of the Booker Prize in 2002, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. The novel is a religious allegory which Martel said can be summarised in three statements, ‘Life is a story. You can choose your story. A story with God is the better story.’ Considered by many to be a modern classic, the book tells of 16-year-old Piscine Molitor ‘Pi’ Patel who grows up in Pondicherry, India, where his father manages a zoo. After the Indian Prime Minister declares the Emergency, Pi’s family decides to emigrate to Canada, taking their animals with them. While travelling on a freighter, a storm hits, the ship sinks and Pi finds himself adrift on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean, with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker. Encountering a range of fantastical circumstances during their 227 days at sea – a cannibalistic algae island, just to name one – the novel suspends readers’ beliefs as they journey with Pi. In 2012, Life of Pi was adapted into an award-winning film by Ang Lee, which went on to be nominated for 11 awards at the Oscars and won four of them.  

The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Condé, translated by Richard Philcox 

Considered the Grande Dame of Caribbean literature, Maryse Condé has had an acclaimed four-decade literary career. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023, her French language title, The Gospel According to the New World, was dictated by Condé to her husband-translator, Richard Philcox, due to her loss of vision. Set in the Caribbean, baby Pascal has been abandoned by his birth mother. Raised by foster parents, his appearance and behaviour are perceived to be special, and he is rumoured to be the child of God. The story follows Pascal into adulthood, as he travels extensively throughout communities, searching for his revered father, hoping to shed some light on his own mission in life. Set in modern times but inspired by the story of Christ, Condé’s book mirrors Biblical tales as events arise that are deemed miracles, while also drawing on Caribbean folklore. The 2023 International Booker Prize judges said the novel ‘borrows from the tradition of magic realism and draws us into a world full of colour and life’. 

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka 

Winner of the Booker Prize 2022, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a searing satire of Sri Lankan politics that navigates the complexities of life and death. The novel’s protagonist, Maali Almeida, describes himself in three words: ‘Photographer, gambler, slut’. He has woken up dead, unable to figure out who has killed him and is given a week (seven moons) to deal with his unfinished business. Travelling between the real world and the afterlife, Maali seeks out his killer while trying to guide his loved ones towards a hidden stash of photos that will ‘bring down governments’. Shehan Karunatilaka’s second novel is a multi-layered read with elements of magical realism, Sri Lankan mythology, the spirit world, and the brutality of the country’s civil war in the 1980s. According to the Financial Times, the novel is ‘epic in scope (mixing tropes from thrillers, crime fiction and magic realism) and a powerful evocation of Sri Lanka’s brutal past.’ 

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell 

Covering five different characters’ viewpoints through intersecting stories, beginning in 1984 and ending in 2043, The Bone Clocks was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2014. The novel starts with the adventures of 15-year-old semi-psychic Holly who runs away from home. While Holly’s whole life is depicted throughout the novel, Mitchell introduces readers to other characters along the way, including unethical university student Hugo, war journalist Ed, down-and-out writer Crispin and reincarnated doctor Marinus. With the narrative spanning 59 years, the reader is transported across the world as battle rages between two immortal groups, the Horologists and the Anchorites. While the magical elements skew this book more towards fantasy – with the appearance of vampires, shapeshifters, demons, and an ancient magical battle – they are interspersed within real-world events and contemporary issues, such as the Iraq War and climate change.  

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie  

Nominated for the Booker Prize seven times, Salman Rushdie is now widely considered to be one of the literary greats and a master of the magical realism genre, with his collection of works often blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. His 1981 novel, Midnight’s Children, is rooted in the events of India’s independence from British rule in 1947. The story follows Saleem Sinai, who was born at the stroke of midnight on the very day of India’s partition, and, as a result, is bestowed with magical abilities including the power to connect with 1,000 other children born at the same time, who also possess similar supernatural gifts. Believing he is on the cusp of death, Saleem recounts his life story, detailing the events of the Emergency that lasted from 1975 to 1977, a real-world crisis marked by human rights violations and media censorship. Midnight’s Children is an allegory for India’s modern, post-colonial history. It won the Booker Prize in 1981, and two special awards celebrating the anniversary of the prize: the Booker of Bookers in 1994, and the Best of the Booker in 2008.  

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid 

A love story set amongst an active civil war, Exit West follows conservative, quiet Saeed and independent Nadia as they fall in love. The book describes life at the heart of a refugee crisis, capturing the realistic state of events within the characters’ unnamed war-torn country, with water and food shortages, and increased levels of violence. When tragedy strikes, the couple flee through a series of magical doors – portals that take them to locations around the world as they seek shelter from not only their homeland’s war but also the ensuing emigration crisis. Travelling from continent to continent the couple face prejudice and exclusion on their long quest for peace. Exit West was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2017, and described by the Guardian as ‘a parable of hideous contemporary familiarity and strangeness’. The New York Review of Books said it was a ‘breathtaking, complex, sweeping view of the current global predicament, not just a crisis of refugees, but the conundrum of borders and wealth.’ 

The Bone People by Keri Hulme 

Described by the Guardian as ‘the strangest novel ever to win the Booker’ when it won the prize in 1985, Keri Hulme’s The Bone People incorporates Māori folklore and mythology into the complicated lives of three damaged characters whose lives intersect. What began as an alter-ego character for the author became the reclusive artist Kerewin, who lives an isolated existence on the South Island of New Zealand. A mute child, Simon appears on her doorstep one day and Kerewin finds that the boy is the foster child of Māori local, Joe, whose tragic past haunts him. Hulme draws from traditional stories of sacred spirits, using aspects of Māori mythology to bring about change within the characters’ lives, while also addressing their legacies of abuse and trauma. While the chair of the 1985 judging panel, Norman St John-Stevas called The Bone People ‘a highly poetic book, filled with striking imagery and insights,’ the panel was famously split on the novel’s win, partly due to the violence and child abuse depicted within it.  

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan, translated by Chi-Young Kim 

Considered a contemporary classic in South Korea, Whale was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023, nearly 20 years after it was first published in Korean. It follows the lives of three distinct characters through the changing political landscape of South Korea, from the Korean War to the modernisation of today. There’s entrepreneurial Geumbok; her mute daughter who can communicate with elephants, Chunhui; and a one-eyed woman who controls an army of bees. According to Buzz Magazine, ‘Whale’s magical realism provides an entertaining element, imbuing hidden meaning in even the simplest turns of events.’ From otherworldly creatures (including a psychic elephant) to supernatural events, the book draws on traditional oral storytelling of the region, while intertwining the surreal with harsh reality, addressing communism and gender politics along the way. 

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell

Twisted stories with a dark and often frightening edge, Mariana Enriquez’s collection blends real life with the horror genre as she takes readers through 12 macabre short stories. Set in and around Buenos Aires, the stories possess supernatural qualities – from sinister witches to zombie babies – but with human experiences at their heart, and sharp observations on social and political problems of Enriquez’s home country, including the military dictatorship that gripped Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Booker Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro said, ‘The beautiful, horrible world of Mariana Enriquez, as glimpsed in The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, with its disturbed adolescents, ghosts, decaying ghouls, the sad and angry homeless of modern Argentina, is the most exciting discovery I’ve made in fiction for some time.’ The book was shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize. 

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur 

Another collection of short stories to chill you to the bone, Cursed Bunny contains 10 grotesque and graphic tales that use fantastical elements to tackle a range of modern-day themes, from the patriarchy to unchecked capitalism. ‘Embodiment’ follows a virgin who gets pregnant after taking too many birth control pills and must find a father for her baby, a metaphor for the struggles of single motherhood; while immoral greed and an incessant thirst for wealth drive the story ‘Snare’. Expect the unexpected in Bora Chung’s absurd and nightmarish stories, where disembodied heads emerge from toilet bowls, foxes bleed pure gold, and a rabbit-shaped lamp is embued with a curse to avenge the death of a friend. Translated from Korean by Anton Hur, this thought-provoking collection was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.  

Lanny by Max Porter

As an editor, Max Porter worked on Eleanor Catton’s 2013 Booker-winning novel The Luminaries and Han Kang’s 2016 International Booker-winning The Vegetarian, so it is obvious he knows what makes a good story. In 2019, he found himself on the other side of the award, when his second novel, Lanny, was longlisted for that year’s Booker Prize. Set in an English village not far from London, the book follows Robert and Jolie Lloyd and their eccentric son Lanny, a free-spirited and curious child with a strong connection to nature. But Dead Papa Toothwort – an ancient Green Man-like spirit who feeds off the voices of the villagers – is on the prowl, and becomes fascinated by Lanny, wanting to steal him away. Porter fuses fable with folklore in this lyrical tale that is experimental in both form and plot. 

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar 

Weaving Persian folklore and fantastical creatures into the dark reality of the Islamic Revolution, Shokoofeh Azar captures the tragedies and brutality directly following the events of 1979. Described as being ‘an embodiment of Iranian life in constant oscillation, struggle and play between four opposing poles: life and death; politics and religion,’ The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, which was banned in Iran, is narrated by Bahar, a 13-year-old girl – who also happens to be a ghost. Her family is forced to flee Tehran to a remote village, seeking peace far away from the violence of the city. But instead, the post-revolutionary chaos and upheaval continue to shadow them. The book was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize, a first for fiction translated from Farsi, yet despite this landmark moment, the publisher withheld the name of the US-based translator for reasons of safety and security.  

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson 

Daisy Johnson’s debut novel Everything Under is a reinterpretation of the story, transports the Oedipus myth to the 21st century but with some supernatural twists added in for good measure. The book revolves around Gretel, a lexicographer who is searching for her long-lost mother, Sarah, who disappeared 16 years earlier. Set amongst the canals of Oxfordshire with a terrifying monster called ‘the Bonak’ lurking riverside, the story follows Gretel as she seeks out an old acquaintance and instead discovers a disturbing prophecy. As the mystery behind Sarah’s disappearance is slowly revealed, Johnson nods to folklore and fairy tales within the eerie, water-logged world. This tale of a strained mother-daughter relationship burdened with distressing secrets was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2018.  

Published February 21, 2024 on The Booker Prizes

Ten of the best Booker-nominated books by Australian authors

Explore some of the best Booker Prize-nominated Australian authors and their work with our comprehensive reading list.

Beyond its natural wonders, exquisite beaches and deadly wildlife, Australia is rightly famous for its writers, and has arguably produced more than its fair share of Booker Prize-nominated authors over the years. The prize may be awarded at a London ceremony to the author of a book published in the UK and/or Ireland, but it has always mattered to Australians. Speaking to the Guardian in 2022, Michael Williams, editor of Australian magazine The Monthly, said that ‘Unmistakeably, the Booker still holds power here’. Winning it, he added, is ‘an act of instant canonisation’.

By that reckoning, Thomas Keneally became Australia’s first living literary saint after winning the Booker Prize in 1982. Richard Flanagan became the most recent, in 2014. Peter Carey is the only Aussie to have won the Booker twice, while Adelaide-born D.B.C. Pierre and Australia-raised Aravind Adiga scooped the award in 2003 and 2008 respectively – all proving that even while geographically removed from the main hubs of the English-language fiction scene, Australian authors can stand alongside the best of them. (Australians might even claim South Africa-born J.M. Coetzee as one of their own, although he only became an Australian citizen in 2006, seven years after his second Booker triumph.) No Australian woman has yet won the Booker, but Kate Grenville, Gail Jones and Madeleine St John have been nominated. 

With the Australian Open tennis tournament just passed, we thought it was a good time to revisit the leading Australians who have earned their place in the Hall of Fame of the world’s foremost literary grand slam. Surprisingly, it will be 10 years this year since the last Australian won the Booker Prize – perhaps this will finally be their year again?

True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

Winner of The Booker Prize in 2001, True History of the Kelly Gang describes the life of Australia’s greatest outlaw in his own words, as we see what motivations lie behind the actions of this notorious bushranger. Combining fact with fiction (Carey admitted it’s around 90% made up, ‘but it really respects the 2%’ that is true), the story follows Kelly’s short life from his teenage years to his death at the age of 26, after he’d become one of the most wanted men in the country. Carey provides insight into the major themes of the era, spotlighting the police corruption and violence that existed in 19th-century Australia. Peter Carey has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times and is one of only four writers to have won the award twice, for Kelly Gang and 1988’s Oscar and Lucinda. He was also shortlisted for International Booker Prize in 2009 (then known as the Man Booker International Prize) for his entire body of work.

The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard

The Bay of Noon, published in 1970 was shortlisted for 2010’s Lost Man Booker Prize, a one-off award to honour books that missed out on the Booker Prize in 1970 due to a rule change. The novel follows Jenny, a young English woman who starts working for NATO as a translator in post-World War II Naples. Jenny immerses herself in the culture, befriending locals including Gioconda, a beautiful writer, Gioconda’s lover Gianni, a womanising filmmaker, and Justin, a somewhat dour Scottish co-worker. As Jenny becomes entangled in Gioconda and Gianni’s relationship, she finds herself out of her depth and ‘a game of sexual musical chairs’, as one reviewer put it, ensues. Hazzard, born in Sydney in 1931, worked for the UN in Naples for a year and described the novel as her love letter to the Italian city. 

Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally

Another Booker-winning novel that is based on true events, Schindler’s Ark (1982) tells the story of Oskar Schindler, flawed hero and businessman, who was a serving member of the Nazi Party during the Second World War. Tricking the SS, Schindler risked his life in the process of saving approximately 1,200 Polish Jews from the death camps, employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories in Brněnec, in what is now the Czech Republic. Keneally stumbled upon the story while buying a briefcase in Beverly Hills, in 1980, at a shop owned by Leopold Pfefferberg, one of the individuals saved by Schindler. Using Pfefferberg’s archival documents and information from other living survivors, Keneally found himself telling one of the extraordinary human stories of the 20th century. The novel was adapted into the film, Schindler’s List, winner of an impressive seven Oscars. One of Australia’s most renowned literary exports, Keneally has been nominated for the Booker Prize four times. He was born in Sydney, where he still lives.

The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser

The Lost Dog revolves around an Indian-Australian professor, Tom Loxley, who moves to a remote cottage in the Australian bush while trying to finish his novel about author Henry James. While there, his dog goes missing and so Loxley sets out to find him, with artist Nelly Zhang accompanying him on the search. According to de Kretser, dogs appear in all of her novels: ‘My dogs are the only beings in my books who are drawn directly from life.’ Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2008, the novel alternates between the past and the present, reverting to Loxley’s early life in India with his mother, Iris, whose health is now declining. The plot also explores the mystery of Nelly’s lost husband and Tom and Nelly’s budding romance. According to the Guardian, de Kretser describes the book’s dual locales with ‘persuasive vitality and an ethical alertness that gives keen observation relevance and wit.’ De Kretser was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in Australia for most of her life.

Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre

Winner of the Booker Prize in 2003, this darkly comic satire takes aim at contemporary American culture, capitalism and the country’s unscrupulous media. After being wrongly accused of a school massacre, Texan teenager Vernon Gregory Little goes on the run. Through a series of trials and tribulations, he encounters a vast range of colourful characters in his efforts to prove his innocence. Written from Vernon’s point of view, with a teenage vernacular to match (offensive language abounds), this unconventional winner captures ‘the moment things began to go wrong’ in the early years of the 21st century, according to Jo Hamya, co-host of the Booker Prize Podcast. D.B.C. Pierre was born in Australia and raised in Mexico but now resides in Ireland. Vernon God Little was his first book.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Described by the Washington Post as ‘one of our greatest living novelists’, Flanagan was born in a remote mining town in Tasmania and was inspired to write 2014’s Booker Prize winner, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by his father’s experience on the Burma Death Railway during the Second World War. ‘I had known for a long time that this was the book I had to write if I was to keep on writing,’ Flanagan said. The story centres around Australian doctor Dorrigo Evans, a war veteran who is lauded for his actions as a prisoner of war in charge of 700 men, but wracked with guilt and a sense of failure, haunted by an affair with his uncle’s wife.

The Riders by Tim Winton

After attempting to build a new life for his family in Ireland, Fred Scully goes to the local airport to collect his wife and young daughter, who have travelled from Australia to join him. But when only his daughter Billy gets off the plane, the two begin a long and desperate journey across Europe, as they try to find answers to his wife’s disappearance. Part psychological thriller and part love story, the book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995. The author of over 20 books, Winton was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1998. His other Booker-shortlisted title, Dirt Music, is set across the arid landscape of Western Australia and centres around a love story and the painful tragedies of the past.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006, The Secret River was inspired by Grenville’s own great-great-great grandfather, Solomon Wiseman, who was born in London but sent to New South Wales as a convict in 1806 after stealing wood. The novel focuses on William Thornhill, who, similarly, is sent to Australia from London after committing a crime – there, he builds a new life, farming land on the edge of the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. Centring on the colonisation of 19th century Australia and the treatment of First Nations people, The Secret River, described by the Independent as a ‘compressed epic of the unenfranchised’, presents in unflinching detail the conflicts and brutality that existed at the time.

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

Tsiolkas’ controversial, angry novel tosses a grenade into middle-class, 21st-century domestic life – and made plenty of people very unhappy. Set in Melbourne, it revolves around a single shocking incident and its aftermath: a three-year-old child is slapped at a suburban barbecue, by someone other than his parents. Told from the viewpoints of eight different characters, the novel uncovers the emotions felt by each attendee and the repercussions of the event. Tsiolkas is the son of Greek parents but was born and raised in Melbourne. Speaking to the Guardian, he said he ‘wanted to show the world I live in, a world I don’t see reflected in Australian literature or on screen.’ Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010, and described by the Sunday Times as ‘Neighbours as Philip Roth might have written it’, The Slap leaves readers questioning how they conduct their own domestic affairs.

Remembering Babylon by David Malouf

Remembering Babylon tells the story of a 13-year-old British boy, Gemmy Fairley who is cast ashore in Queensland where he is raised by First Nations people. After 16 years, English settlers arrive in the area and Gemmy is taken back into British Colonial society, struggling with his new identity. Malouf was born in Brisbane, with his work tending to be mostly set in Australia, specifically in or around Brisbane. In an interview with the Antipodes journal, he said, ‘Often when I find myself moved by something I want to write about, it presents itself to me in a place that has the light and texture and air of that place I grew up in.’ Remembering Babylon was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1993, while Malouf’s entire body of work was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2011.

Published on January 24, 2024 on The Booker Prizes

Ten Booker Prize-nominated novels for fans of Saltburn

If you loved Emerald Fennell’s twisted tale of bright young things, you’ll find plenty of titles in the Booker Library that deal with dysfunctional aristocratic families, and interlopers with dark motives.

If you fell in love with Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi and the lush locations of Emerald Fennell’s second film, or even if you’re still a little shell-shocked over those scenes, we’ve got some book recommendations that match the warped, gothic atmosphere of the movie perfectly – full of eccentric upper-class families, sumptuous settings, class divisions, love, lies and manipulative protagonists who can’t be trusted. 

If you haven’t yet watched the film, Saltburn revolves around Oliver Quick, an apparently poor scholarship student at Oxford University, who ends up befriending wealthy, popular Felix Catton. Feeling sorry for Oliver, Felix invites him to spend the summer at his family’s lavish estate, Saltburn, where Oliver quickly finds favour with Felix’s parents, Sir James and Lady Elspeth, and his sister, Venetia. But as Oliver’s obsession with Felix grows, a series of tragic events leave the Catton family – and our sympathies for Oliver – in tatters.

If this psychological gothic thriller has left you hungry for more stories about upper-class university life, grand estates in the English countryside and deeply dysfunctional households, here are 10 books for you.

Good Behaviour by Molly Keane

Rejected by her original publisher for being too nasty, Molly Keane’s 1981 Booker Prize-shortlisted Good Behaviour revolves around the life of Aroon St Charles, an outcast desperate for the approval of her family and society at large. Set in Ireland just after the First World War, the novel follows the St Charles family, Irish aristocrats with a penchant for unruly behaviour. Living in a crumbling estate called Temple Alice, the family’s unspoken motto is that appearances are everything and must be maintained at all costs. Beginning with a rabbit mousse murder, the story unravels across Aroon’s childhood and adolescence, as she deals with her cruel and selfish mother and neglectful father. Much like Oliver in Saltburn, Aroon is convinced she doesn’t fit in with upper-class society, and is bullied for her larger appearance and awkward demeanor. In the throes of unrequited infatuation, she hungers for love and acceptance but is instead dismissed and ignored. A dark comedy filled with secrets and tragedies, Good Behaviour uncovers what goes on beneath the seemingly perfect exterior of the very wealthy.

A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch

Longlisted for the Lost Man Booker in 2010, Iris Murdoch’s 13th novel was inspired by the plays of Shakespeare, particularly A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Using deceit and manipulation, biochemist Julius King attempts to end the marriage of two of his friends, all for the sake of a bet. Continuing on his path of malicious intent, he further aims to wreck the relationships of all those around him. Believing that human relationships can easily be broken and that their participants can always be substituted, his acts as a villainous puppet master leaves his friends’ lives in shambles. While Julius’s motives are unclear, his deception and trickery lead to numerous misunderstandings and betrayals, all without an ounce of remorse from Julius himself, much like the actions of Oliver in Saltburn. Juggling a complex cast of intertwining characters, Murdoch explores the contrast between good and evil.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

Set throughout the 1980s, The Line of Beauty follows Nick Guest, who moves in with the Feddens, a wealthy family in Notting Hill, to begin his PhD in London. Similar to the way Oliver inserts himself into the Cattons’ opulent existence, Nick becomes an interloper into the lives of the rich and well connected. Living a luxurious lifestyle full of drugs, sex and expensive gifts, Nick takes full advantage of all the decadence that surrounds him. As the AIDS pandemic spreads and the political landscape fills with greed and scandal, Nick struggles with his identity and his quest for an aesthetically pleasing life. Winning the Man Booker Prize in 2004, The Line of Beauty intrigues readers with tales of love affairs, mystery and loss.

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Taking inspiration from her own small-town upbringing and Alfred Hitchcock’s film adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, Eileen focuses on Eileen Dunlop, an unstable and lonely young woman who yearns for a better life. Working at a juvenile correctional facility for teenage boys, Eileen strikes up a friendship with a glamorous psychologist, Rebecca Saint John, and finds herself embroiled in a plan that changes the course of her life. With its twisted, manipulative protagonist (see Oliver Quick), the novel portrays Eileen as deeply disturbed in the rawest of forms. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016, and adapted for the big screen this year, Eileen is a creepy, psychological thriller that helped bring Moshfegh to a mainstream audience.

A Domestic Animal by Francis King

Published just three years after homosexuality was legalised in the UK, Francis King’s 1970 novel A Domestic Animal revolves around the unrequited love of Dick Thompson towards his handsome Italian lodger, Antonio Valli. Captivating everyone he meets, Antonio leaves Florence behind, along with his wife and two children, for a year of research at a university. He seeks admiration and reassurance from those around him – and Dick, a successful middle-aged novelist, is more than happy to oblige. As jealousy and lust take control, Dick finds himself drawn to Antonio’s new mistress, in a love triangle of sorts. Longlisted for the Lost Man Booker in 2010, A Domestic Animal tackles with the same theme of unrequited love which leaves Saltburn’s Oliver exasperated and possessive. Said to have been loosely based on King’s own experiences, the novel encapsulates the frustration and mania of one-sided love.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize, Atonement centres around a 20th-century upper-class British family with a stately home not unlike Saltburn, and a story of jealousy, misunderstanding and tragedy. Thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis’ naive and selfish misinterpretation of events dramatically alters the lives of everyone involved. Written across three time periods, and with a devastating twist, Atonement deals with the loss of innocence, and the secrets and lies that can wreck an individual. Time magazine listed Atonement in its 100 greatest English-language novels since 1923, with a successful film adaptation released in 2007.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

A disturbing and provocative thriller, My Sister, the Serial Killer shows us the dysfunctional life of nurse Korede and her sister, Ayoola, a beautiful sociopath who has killed three of her boyfriends. After disposing of the evidence and cleaning up the crime scene, Korede faces a crisis of conscience. But when Ayoola starts a flirtation with Korede’s crush at work, the doctor Tade, Korede battles with her feelings of anger and jealousy. Knowing how Ayoola’s past boyfriends have ended up, she is forced to pick a side. With dark humour and a sociopathic, remorseless protagonist (see Oliver Quick, again), the novel, which was longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize, poses the question: how far would you go to protect your sibling?

Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood

The author of Great Granny Webster, Caroline Blackwood, is distinctly aware of the colourful goings-on within aristocratic families, coming as she does from the lineage of the wealthy Guinness dynasty. Partly influenced by her own childhood (Booker judge Philip Larkin felt the novel should not have been eligible for the prize as it was really, he believed, an autobiography), the book tells the story of three women through the eyes of a nameless teenage girl. It focuses on the matriarch of the family, cold-hearted and selfish Great Granny Webster, her ‘away with the fairies’ daughter, Grandmother Dunmartin, and the teenager’s promiscuous party-girl aunt, Lavinia. Seeking information about her deceased father, the girl gets more than she bargained for as interviews with various family members reveal past secrets and disturbing insights into the lives of the three women. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1977, this inter-generational gothic novel portrays an aristocratic and troubled family much like Saltburn’s eccentric Catton clan. 

The Accidental by Ali Smith

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2005, The Accidental focuses on members of the Smart family who are renting a holiday home in Norfolk when an uninvited guest, the beguiling 30-something Amber, crashes their seemingly normal lives claiming her car has broken down. Soon, and with no intention of leaving the family in peace, she causes havoc, prising open the cracks in the relationships between Michael and Eve, and their children, Magnus and Astrid, each harbouring secrets of their own. The narrative shifts between the perspectives of each of the Smarts as, much like Saltburn’s troubled house guest, Oliver, Amber proves to be the catalyst for the unraveling of a fragile family. 

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters’ gothic novel begins in 1947 when a country doctor, Faraday, is called to a rundown estate, Hundreds Hall, the home of the once-wealthy Ayres family. There, Mrs Ayres, her unmarried daughter Caroline and troubled son Roderick are struggling to return the estate to its former glory. As Faraday becomes a regular visitor to the house, strange and terrifying things begin to happen. The Ayres family – like the Cattons – are snobbish and emotionally damaged, while Faraday is haunted by his own working-class hangups. As critics have observed, this is a novel as much about social status as spooky goings-on. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2009 and adapted into a feature film in 2018, this chilling ghost story has a startling twist.

Published on December 19, 2023 on The Booker Prizes