The Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist 2022

The Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist for 2022 was announced on Tuesday. The 16 titles are:

I am pleased to see ‘Great Circle’ by Maggie Shipstead and ‘Sorrow and Bliss’ by Meg Mason on the longlist as these were among my favourite books of 2021. Some have expressed surprise that titles such as Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, The Fell by Sarah Moss and To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara didn’t make the cut. However, while they are very good novels, I don’t think they are the best work to date by these authors, so it’s good to see more room for others this year instead.

I have read ‘The Paper Palace’ by Miranda Cowley Heller but haven’t reviewed it – it is a very strong debut, and it doesn’t surprise me to learn that Heller was Head of Drama Series at HBO for a decade, as the novel has the feel of a prestige TV drama in its emotional dissection of an affair during a summer in Cape Cod. I also have a copy of ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’ by Ruth Ozeki which I am looking forward to reading soon, having enjoyed all of her previous novels.

Whereas last year’s longlist was dominated by well-known authors, there are several on this year’s list who are new to me. One of the five debut novels on the list I am particularly intrigued by is ‘Careless’ by Kirsty Capes, a coming-of-age story which draws on the author’s personal experiences of the care system. I have also seen lots of positive reviews for ‘The Exhibitionist’ by Charlotte Mendelson which is about the family of an artist preparing for his latest exhibition.

Which longlisted books have you read and which ones are you keen to read?