2013 Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist

The longlist for the inaugural Women's Prize for Fiction will be announced this coming Wednesday, March 13th. Twenty books will be chosen for the longlist, which will be narrowed to a six book shortlist on April 16th, at the London Book Fair. The winning book will be announced at the award ceremony in London on June 5th.

The prize has a new web site, http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk.

I am assuming that these would previously been known as the Orange Prize longlisted books?

That's right, Belva.

Which books do all of you hope or expect to see on the longlist? I'd like to see these four books make it:

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (I'll be shocked if this doesn't make it)
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
NW by Zadie Smith

I really do not know what to expect -but Darryl, I really loved The Lighthouse by Alison Moore , so I love to see that book make it.

I feel my wishlist groaning already... :)

I haven't read any on your wishlist Darryl! Hope I have read one or tow on the long list.

I read the first three books last summer, as all of them were longlisted for last year's Booker Prize (which was awarded to Bring Up the Bodies). NW was touted by the Guardian Books editors as one of the books that they felt should have made the Booker longlist, and I'm a Zadie Smith fan anyway, so I read it soon after I bought it. The Yips by Nicola Barker also made the Booker longlist; I wouldn't be surprised if it made the WPF longlist, but I wasn't as fond of it as the other four books I mentioned.

The Guardian has announced the 2013 longlist (a day early? What's up with that?)

Kitty Aldridge A Trick I Learned From Dead Men
Kate Atkinson Life After Life
Ros Barber The Marlowe Papers
Shani Boianjiu The People of Forever are Not Afraid
Gillian Flynn Gone Girl
Sheila Heti How Should A Person Be?
AM Homes May We Be Forgiven
Barbara Kingsolver Flight Behaviour
Deborah Copaken Kogan The Red Book
Hilary Mantel Bring Up the Bodies
Bonnie Nadzam Lamb
Emily Perkins The Forrests
Michèle Roberts Ignorance
Francesca Segal The Innocents
Maria Semple Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Elif Shafak Honour
Zadie Smith NW
ML Stedman The Light Between Oceans
Carrie Tiffany Mateship with Birds
G Willow Wilson Alif the Unseen

Ha! You posted just before I did, Laura; well done!

It looks as though the longlist was posted at ~8 pm EST, which would be 12 am in the UK (I'm not sure when Great Britain switches to British Summer Time). If I remember correctly the longlist for the Orange Prize was released at midnight in previous years.

I expected to see Bring Up the Bodies on the longlist, and I'm not surprised that NW was chosen. I am disappointed that The Lighthouse and Swimming Home weren't selected, though.

>10 kidzdoc:: snap!

Well, turns out I read three on the long list:
Gone Girl
The Red Book
Where'd You Go, Bernadette

I enjoyed them all, esp Bernadette. But I expect a more literary heavyweight will win.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is my book club's selection for June, so I'll read that one for sure. From what I've heard about it, it doesn't sound like THE winner.

And if you'd asked me, I'd have told you that Bring Up the Bodies won last year (but I see my confusion now).

Here's the current availability of the Women's Prize for Fiction longlisted books in the US; all books are available in print and Kindle format, except for the following titles:

A Trick I Learned from Dead Men: no US publication date
Life After Life: to be published on April 2nd (hardback and Kindle versions)
Honour: print book published March 7th, no Kindle version at present
The Light Between Oceans: Kindle version currently available, hardback will be published on April 2nd
Mateship with Birds: no US publication date

>14 kidzdoc:: thanks so much for that Darryl, I was wondering.

I've only read Bring up the Bodies and Gone Girl, both of which I loved for very different reasons. I agree with Nancy in #12, some of the nominees seem less "literary" than the typical prize winner. I can't wait to read the Atkinson and look forward to learning more about the others.

>14 kidzdoc: The Light Between Oceans has been out in Canada since July 2012. It's even available in trade paperback. Publishing rights in NA are so bizaare. It seems very popular, as a quick look in my library shows 36 requests on 3 copies. Hmm, should I pick up a copy?

I really enjoyed The Light Between Oceans as have many here on LT. I agree, Elizabeth, publishing rights are bizarre. @16 - I'd pick up a copy. I thought it was a fabulous read -as did Lit Chick and others here on LT. Is it prize worthy? Maybe. It so hard to say. I think that The Light Between Oceans was available in the US as a Early Reviewer book here on LT in the fall. I think.

So far, I've only read Bring up the Bodies but Gone Girl, The Light Between Oceans , Flight Behaviour and The Innocents were all on my wishlist. The Innocents has already won the Costa Prize for best first novel in the UK.

The Guardian had a nice summary of the books longlisted showing the (probably UK) covers and a brief description of each book which I found helpful.

Thank you Laura and Darryl for posting this for us so quickly. Soooo I have been on my library's site and already put holds on everything that they have available in print. I didn't bother with the Kingsolver one. It has over 300 holds on it. But they have over half of them that I will be anxiously awaiting. One is already in transit to my branch. Yea!
Once they start rolling in most everything else will go by the wayside. Can't help it, that's just how I roll! Just like the Orange. hee hee

Heh... I did the same thing. Great minds think alike :)

I'm excited to see the list too, and as usual, I've read only one - Bring Up the Bodies. I don't really see how anything can be better than it is, but that doesn't mean anything. Anyway, I've found that I can afford a copy of Ignorance, so I've ordered that. The rest will have to wait.
Reading about them, I'm once again seeing very few that appeal to me immediately. When you all have read them and talked about them, I'm sure that will change.

Surprised to see Gone Girl on the LL. I enjoyed it but don't think it is literary prize material. I would also have loved to see The Lighthouse on the list. The Light Between Oceans I have and must get to -- have heard wonderful things.

Thanks for the link to the Guardian descriptions - very helpful!

I've read Bring up the Bodies which should clearly be a strong candidate for the short list in my opinion. Also read Gone Girl which I enjoyed in a guilty pleasure/beach read kind of way. Definitely surprised to see it on a prize list.

Will there be a shadow jury for the short list again? Depending on the selections, I'd be interested in participating.

I really liked last year how we made a 'list' on librarything and then everyone ranked the longlist books as they read them. I'll set that up later today, unless someone beats me to it.

Here's last years list: http://www.librarything.com/list/319/all/Favourite-books-from-the-2012-Orange-Pr...

That is a great list, Elizabeth! I didn't even know about that feature of LT. Must learn more!

Boy oh boy....more depths to LT. Didn't know about the list feature!

I can never find the List feature without a link. Anyone tell me where to find it?

Yea me too! Is the "list" link buried in a category in the tab bar? I can't find it!

I just adjust the address from where ever I am in LT - after the ".com/" in the address bar, erase whatever is there and type lists. Or find a link to a list, like mine, and follow that. Hope this helps!

The list is posted. Have fun!

http://www.librarything.com/list/492/all/Favourite-books-from-the-2013-Womens-Pr...

Feel free to go in and rank the books as you've read them. Some books from last year weren't read by anyone! (that participated in the list) Just click the "add to your list" beside each book, then you can rank your own list by dragging in the little green box. I left the thumb down option, although I wasn't sure. It's like a little dagger to your heart when someone thumbs down a book you've liked, but that is a part of the lists game.

A few stats before we begin, then we can compare after the final winner is announced. Not representative or scientific, just a snapshot of information.

Most Reviewed: Gone Girl (279)
Most Members: Gone Girl (3010)
Highest stars: The Marlowe Papers (4.58)
Least Stars: The People of Forever are Not Afraid (3.17)
Least Reviewed: A Trick I Learned from Dead Men 0
Least Members: A Trick I Learned from Dead Men (15)

Can't really figure out how to "rank". Just added to my list the 3 books I have read. Own a few more, but haven't read them yet.

Thanks Elizabeth for the ranking list.

I'm just going to post the names of books that I have found a book description for and also a couple of newspaper reviews , so that we can have some idea about what some of the lesser read books are about. I have not got to all of them.

Kitty Aldridge A Trick I Learned From Dead Men
Kate Atkinson Life After Life
Ros Barber The Marlowe Papers
Sheila Heti How Should A Person Be?
Michèle Roberts Ignorance
Francesca Segal The Innocents
Carrie Tiffany Mateship with Birds
Bonnie Nadzam Lamb
Emily Perkins The Forrests

I entered the two I've read but I can't rank them on my iPad with the drag and drop feature, so I'll have to wait til I sit down at a computer to update those.

There doesn't seem to be a big draw to the L/L this year and we seem to be lacking the enthusiasm that I have become accustomed to finding here on our Orange threads. I must say that though my reading plans are in place and I have read two on my Kindle, have 10 from the library, that the blurbs on the books aren't doing a lot to excite me. I certainly am glad that the first one I read, The Light Between Oceans was so good. That has made it easier for me to keep on task.

I agree, Belva, that I just don't have the enthusiasm for the list this year that I did last. Just finished Where'd You Go, Bernadette, three stars -- a little overdone for my taste. I have and am looking forward to The Light Between Oceans and The Innocents. Jury is still out on whether I'll read Atkinson's Life After Life.

eta: Also looking forward to A Trick I Learned from Dead Men, but it's not yet available in Canada : (.

I'm kind of enthused! I think we miss mrstreme! I really loved The Light Between Oceans and I purchased Gone Girl, but I read a major spoiler on the threads, just one of those things, I think . Oh well! I've got The Innocents ready to read when I get to it, and I've got
A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge on order from the Book Depository. I've got Life After Life on my radar, but not sure as yet.

I was reading about the Australian " Stella Awards" earlier today and there are 5 books on the list, one of them being Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany, so perhaps there is more to that book then we expect. Going through the books as I have above and grabbing reviews and reading them has helped me get more enthused, because many of the books I had never heard of before. Lamb sounds very creepy! One that caught my interest was Ignorance by Michele Roberts, but I've not looked around for it yet.

We are definitely missing jill!

I am looking forward to The Light Between Oceans (bought it last weekend), LIfe After Life (can't wait!), Where'd You Go Bernadette (I've been seeing it promoted at Indigo for months)

I don't plan on :Bring Up the Bodies (haven't read Wolf Hall either, so long!) or Flight Behaviour. Lamb doesn't appeal either right now.

I'm on a waiting list for a couple more at the library (NW, The Innocents and The Forrests) and I've already read Gone Girl. So that makes 7 I'm planning to read. I've never read the whole long list, it's not my goal, but there seem to be enough to keep me interested.

Yeah I miss Jill too -- she's a great cheerleader. I still see her on FB but I think life has just gotten kind of busy for her. Me, I tend to reserve January and July for my Orange Women's Prize reading so while the long list is of interest, I don't usually rush to read 'em all.

I forgot to add Bring Up the Bodies to my previous post. This one is definitely on my radar, but will be a summer read.

I'm so out of the loop, I'd completely forgotten it was that time of the year until I saw the list on Luci's challenge thread.

Despite that, it turns out I am currently reading a Women's Prize longlister: Life after Life. I'm not far in yet but am really enjoying it - Atkinson's writing is such a delight. I acquired Gone Girl in a swap last week, so will probably read that soon.

I'll be very interested to see which ones make the shortlist, mainly because my local library always buys multiple copies of them. I'm hoping for The Forrests, The Light between Oceans and The Innocents.

Honestly, I'll probably wait for the short list and try to read all of those. I have too many books in my pile to try to read the whole long list, but some of my favorite books have been orange prize nominees so I look forward to the lists.

Laura, for some reason I like the idea of Orange Women's Prize. I think I'll keep it.

42: I agree. After all, we still talk about the Man Booker prize years after Booker ended their sponsorship.

I have now read Lamb, Red Book and How Should a Person Be? and can't say that I am impressed by any of them. I am somewhat confused as to how the first two even got on the list to be honest. I have NW, The Forrests and The Innocents to go so we will see.

I'm with those advocating for the Orange Prize! Can't think of a more unimaginative title that the Women's Prize for Fiction.

I too miss Jill but know that when life takes a busy turn, it definitely takes a turn. And we've all been there so Jill, hope you and yours are well and just know that we are thinking of you positively and still doing our reading over here.

I just last night completed The Red Book, a 2 1/2* read for me. It worked well for me as a character study but as a novel, not so much. This was my third off the list I believe. The first was a great start to the Orange L/L, The Light Between Oceans and it was a very solid 4 1/2* read for me. Then I moved on to Gone Girl (I read those 2 on my Kindle because they weren't out in print here yet). Gone Girl garnered 3 1/2* for me. So they are moving down by 1 full star each read so far. I don't know whether to continue or back off.
I have 9 more here from the library so I will most likely continue on. But to tell you the truth the blurbs and end papers on none of them have got me excited. I have barely begun Ignorance and am hoping it will turn out to be a dandy. It's more in my sphere as it is a war time novel.

Off topic: We have a white-out going here. It is snowing to beat the band! Loving that.

@46 Belva, do let me know what you think of Ignorance once you've read it. It's on my radar! I'll go find your thread later in case you don't read this here. I'd looked at The Red Book and it did not seem to hold much appeal to me, so , while I'm sorry you had to read a 2. 5 star book, now I can skip it! :) Thanks! Enjoy the snow! We've got sunshine - practically unheard of these days! :)

>40 Soupdragon:: Hi Dee! I'm glad to hear you are enjoying Life after Life. That's one I definitely want to read this year. I might even buy it for my Kindle!

Well, I've just pre - ordered Life After Life. I decided that I needed the actual book since it is 500 pages. It's release date is Apr 2, so I hope to have it a couple of days after that! Yes, Dee has gotten to us! :)

You were much nicer with your description of Red Book than I was. :)

Ha bucket! You crack me up! loves ya womans!

And no wonder everyone is wanting to read Life After Life. She wrote the Jackson Brodie
series which I've not yet read but PEOPLE ARE TALKING! (Just pre-ordered, L.A.L., for my Kindle)

Well I finished Life after Life and wrote a short review (see new thread or book's main page). I enjoyed the writing but some of you might find its premise a bit too "out there". Looking forward to hearing others thoughts.

I've borrowed a copy of Light between Oceans from my local library and plan to start that soon. Maybe right now actually...

Thanks for the review of Life After Life, Dee! Thumbed! I'm looking cautiously forward to it. As for Light Between Oceans , that's definitely been a favorite read for me. I hope you enjoy it!

I loved The Light Between the Oceans! Really great read, had me torn between characters the whole book. I devoured it this weekend.

Ohhh, I've GOT to get to The Light Between Oceans. I've read about it on two different threads just this evening!

46: I see you've finished Ignorance, Belva. What did you think?

I've now read The Light Between Oceans. I didn't love it as much as others have done but it certainly packed an emotional punch.

Hi Dee. It was a 3 1/2 star read for me. I liked it; didn't love it. I enjoyed the writing, thought it quite lyrical but thought the story told from too many character's PsOV. I have yet to write my review and plan to do it later this evening. Watching The Voice right now so can't concentrate on writing. lol!~!

Belva, I enjoyed your review - I may yet get to it- thumbed.

Dee, that's so interesting that The Light Between Oceans was not a fav of yours, because I really enjoyed it. It really shows how taste is so individual. I'm looking forward to the arrival of Life After Life by Kate Atkinson , and A Trick I Learned from Dead Men. Today I picked up Honor: A Novel by Elif Safak, so we'll see. Still reading The Innocents and finding it sadly lacking. Oh well!

for your Ignorance review, Belva. I remember reading some Michele Roberts in the eighties and kind of admiring her writing but feeling too detached from it to really enjoy it. I loved your review of The Children's Book, too. I've had that sat on my shelves for far too long!

Deborah, I did enjoy The Light Between Oceans but reading all the rave reviews, I realise not quite as much as others have. There is definite beauty in the book. I fell for Tom quite quickly, admiring the way all the pain he'd been through had made him more determined to do the right thing and feeling his anguish when the right thing became less and less obvious.

I liked the way the author wasn't afraid to make children and the love of children, a central theme of the book. I was certainly affected emotionally. Maybe too much, as it eventually all got too much and I found myself hoping for something else apart from being wrung out again and again. Also, I started to think of those contemporary issue-based novels which are promoted with the tag-line: "What would you do?" and I've never been a fan of those! Though of course, a version set in contemporary times would be very different with social workers and DNA tests!

#58: I wasn't that taken with The innocents either, I read it last week, relationship angst just isn't enough plot for my liking. Was an easy undemanding read.
I've just started The people of forever are not afraid which feels more interesting so far.

Oh man... I was hoping The Innocents would be an improvement over the others I have been reading! I just finished (sorta, I made it to page 200 and just gave up) The Forrests and really didn't like it. To be perfectly honest, I was bored silly. I just got Flight Behaviour and am hoping my negative streak changes.

Belva, happy to add my thumb-up to your lovely review of Ignorance. I'd been looking at that one. Hmm, I've come across so many average reviews of this year's Orange nominees.

I just reviewed Lamb if anyone's interested. I wasn't too fond of it. It was well-written and compelling, but I found it deeply unsettling.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/151170#3995109

Thanks for your intelligent review, Rachel. That's one "Orange", I won't be trying. I'm currently struggling with the character of Rabbit in the undeniably well-written Rabbit, Run for my reading group, and Rabbit, for all his weaknesses, isn't abducting children

An excellent review, @63, Rachel and like Dee, that is not a book I'll be reading. Lamb. I really appreciated you well thought out spoiler discussion your thread. Thumb.

Flight Behaviour was a five star read for me earlier this year, so I hope those of you who have not yet read it will find it an improvement on some of the ones you've been reading... I have loved everything Kingsolver has written, and was not disappointed in this one.

Thank you for the review of Lamb, Rachel. Don't feel particularly compelled to read that one. However, Flight Behaviour is one I've been looking at, so appreciate Genny's endorsement : ).

eta: just checked my local library and A Trick I Learned from Dead Men is on order! I'm #1 in the queue, yay!

Lamb is on my not-so-fond of list. As is How Should a Person Be and Red Book. I have The Innocents, Flight Behaviour and NW to go so it looks like there might be a light at the of the tunnel!

Let's hope. Thus far I have only read one of four that was an above average read for me. That being The Light Between Oceans. The three not-so-hot ones were: The Red Book, Gone Girl and Ignorance. But I am reading The Forrests now and quite enjoying it, so I too am seeing a possible light at the end of the tunnel. Waiting at the ready I have: NW, The Marlowe Papers, May We Be Forgiven, How Should a Person Be, Alif the Unseen, Innocents, Lamb and The Blue Book which is off the L/L of 2012. I have a feeling I will be bypassing a few of these. The only one that I am excited about is The Marlowe Papers.

Have just completed and reviewed The Light Between Oceans. It's the best of three I've read from the LL to date: Bernadette and The Innocents being the other two. Still want to read A Trick I Learned from Dead Men, Life After Life, and Bring Up the Bodies.

Just an update from me. I finished The Innocents, which I did not review and I did not care much for. I felt it was just to shallow for my liking - a 3 star read for me. I just finished reading and reviewing Life After Life by Kate Atkinson which is my favourite LL Orange to date , 5 stars. Earlier last year I read but did not review The Light Between Oceans, but I thought it was excellent and gave it 4.5 stars. I have A Trick I Learned From Dead Men which I hope to get to sooner than later.

I have stalled on The Innocents but will press on and hopefully finish this week. I just finished The Light Between Oceans and cried like a baby. Not sure I would say it is award-winning material but great book nonetheless. Just started Flight Behaviour and liking it so far.

Has any one read The Forrests?

I am finding it so boring. It is actually okay in isolated spurts, but as a novel, with characters and plot, I am not so impressed. I am only on page 115, but the characters seem so passive, just reacting to whatever happens. So much happens, and doesn't happen, at the same time.

I hated The Forrests. I made it to page 200 and returned it to the library (and I rarely leave a book unfinished).

I've started on A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge. I'm only about 30 pages in of about 200 pages, but so far it's not grabbing me like Life After Life or The Light Between Oceans. But it's early yet. I've not seen The Forrests yet, so I cannot comment on that one. As you know, The Innocents was a 3 star disappointment for me.

raider; I really like The Forrests. It was a four star read for me. I especially enjoyed the quirky characters. I actually quite enjoyed it.

Am currently deep into The Innocents and seem to be enjoying it more than some of you. It is certainly not a powerhouse novel but I am liking it. Deb, at 3 stars, I am still liking the book, not loving but liking. But we all have our different systems of star-ranking books.

Belva - for me, a 3 star read means it just barely cut the mustard. 3.5 pretty good/ not bad 4 stars Very Good! 4.5 Nearly Perfect , loved it a lot. 5 stars, REALLY LOVED IT, A NEW FAVOURITE!!! . Yes, my 3 is a fairly low ranking, it means I just kind of tolerated the book.

I have started The Innocents a few times but keep moving on to other things. I have no idea why as it sounds interesting but somehow the first few chapters have failed to engage. I will finish though! I have to finish Flight Behaviour first because that one is due back at the library soon.

Deb; my rating system goes thus:
5*=Unforgettable, beyond wonderful
4.5*=Excellent, wonderful
4*=Really liked, recommended
3.5*=liked, overall a good read
3*=respectable, enjoyed
2*=Just okay
1*=Meh
1/2*=Bletch, really bad

Belva - I would agree with you on numbers 5 - 3, and add:

3.5 -- overall a respectable read, but with a bit extra in some aspect

2 -- pretty bad, but not 100% stinky

1 -- offensively bad

.5 -- also offensively bad, but given when I'm in a grouchier mood

Joyce, I like your .5 rating. ;-)

It's really rare that I would give a book less than 3 stars, because I wouldn't read a book very often that rated so low with me. I rarely announce that I am reading a book before I've read about 60 pages in -and if I dislike it enough to stop reading it, then it never even registers on LT.

I have persisted in reading a few 2. 5 reads because I decided I was going to read the book come *ell or high water. :)

I've finished A Trick I Learned From Dead Men and I'm just pondering on it before I attempt to review it, or give a star value. I had hoped for more from the book but... I " enjoyed" it more than The Innocents, but I was also disappointed in Kitty Aldridge 's book.

#82 - I have had to read lousy books for school, for my book club, and because I've agreed to review them. And every once in a while I come across a book that I enjoy hating. I have to say, compared to my positive reviews, my negative reviews always get the most number of thumbs here at LT. Every so often, it feels really good to bash a book.

Finished and wrote a review for A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge, which is on the main page and my thread.

85: Interesting review, Deborah. The book's not one that's calling me right now!

I've just started Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson.

I've started a new thread here for the recently announced shortlist. No real surprises, I think.

I finished The people of forever are not afraid which is a debut novel by a young Israeli woman. She wrote in English not Hebrew as she was a student at Harvard at the time. It won't appeal to everyone but I enjoyed it quite a bit though there were parts I wasn't so keen on. It's very episodic almost a series of linked stories.

WOW!~! Just found out that Kitty Aldridge, author of A Trick I Learned from Dead Men is married to the fab Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and now on his own. That moved her way up in my book.

So far I have read:

People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Boianjiu - 4 stars
Gone Girl by Flynn - 4 stars
Flight Behaviour by Kingsolver - 4 stars
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Semple - 4 stars
Light Between Oceans by Stedman - 4 stars
May We Be Forgiven by Homes - 3 1/2 stars
NW by Smith - 3 1/2 stars
How Should a Person Be? by Heti - 3 stars
Lamb by Nadzam - 2 stars
The Forrests by Perkins - 2 stars
Red Book by Kogan - 1 1/2 stars

89 - cool!

Wow! You've done really well with your orange reads, Danielle!

I've read
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson 5 stars and reviewed
Light Between Oceans 4.5 stars - no review
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple 4 stars - just some comments on my thread
A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge 3 stars and reviewed.
The Innocents by Francesca Segal 3 stars.

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver - abandoned on page 90. It just did not keep my interest. I've read three other Barbara Kingsolvers, but this one just did not grab me.

Thus far I have read and completed:
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman; (4 1/2*)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; (3 1/2*)
The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan; (2 1/2*)
Ignorance by Michele Roberts; (3 1/2*)
The Forrests by Emily Perkins; (4*)
The Innocents by Francesca Segal; (3 1/2*)

I have begun several others that I just couldn't go and have waiting:
The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber which I am hoping to read this month.

You ladies are doing really well. I am proud of you.

You are all Orange Prodigies. I'm more or less proud of myself for having read four. Here's how I rate them, I think.

Bring Up the Bodies (10* out of 5)
Life After Life (4½*)
Lamb (I can't remember; I guess that says a lot about it. O.K. I didn't rate it, so I'm saying 3½*)
Ignorance (Ditto - also 3½* now that I've checked)

(Tomorrow I might want to reverse the last two.)

I'm about 1/2 way through May We Be Forgiven and I'm totally surprised to be enjoying it!

I'm so impressed with the rest of you Orange Readers! Great going, everyone!