There is nothing better than a good book, as the saying goes. And in times of uncertainty, we often find relaxation in escaping our lives and delving deeper into someone else.
This has never been true in recent years, as getting a good time between us for a good read has never been more important or restorative.
But what are some of the best books to read this year? Fortunately, the Women’s Fiction Award has announced its official list of nominees, offering six essential readings for next year.
The original list of 16 was released in March and was narrowed down by an expert jury made up of Mary Ann Sieghart, Lorraine Candy, Dorothy Koomson, Anita Sethi and Pandora Sykes.
Here’s the 2022 Women’s Fiction Award
1. THE BREAD IS MADE BY THE DEVIL Author: Lisa Allen-Agostini
BUY NOW: Devils Knead Bread (paper) – Waterstones, £ 8.99
Alethea Lopez is about to turn 40 years old. Fashionable, combative and very independent, she runs a shop in the Port of Spain, but behind closed doors she covers the bruises of her bad partner and is looking for peace in a relationship with her boss. When a jealous lover sees a murdered woman, the reality of her future gets too close to home. Bringing her truth to Trinity in an unparalleled voice, Alethea illuminates her repressed memories from childhood and begins to understand the person she has become. Her next step is to decide who she wants to be.
2. SENTENCE Author: Louise Erdrich
BUY NOW: Sentence Louise Erdrich (Hardcover) – Waterstones, £ 17.99
A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis runs from November 2019 to November 2020 to the most annoying customers of the store. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she won’t leave the store. Tookie, who got a job selling books after years of imprisonment for surviving “deadly attention” reading, must unravel the mystery of this misfortune, and at the same time try to understand everything that happens in Minneapolis, in a sad year. surprise, isolation, and furious calculation.
3. SOROW AND BLISS by Meg Mason
BUY NOW: Sadness and happiness Author: Meg Mason (paperback) – Waterstones, £ 8.99
Everyone tells her that Martha Friel is bright and beautiful, a great writer, a man, her husband Patrick, whom she loved every day of her adult life. So why is it all broken? Why is Martha – at the age of 40 – without friends, almost unemployed and so sad? And why did Patrick decide to leave? Forced to return home from her childhood, to live with her dysfunctional and bohemian parents (but without the help of her naughty and naughty sister Ingrid), Marta has one last chance to find out if her life is too broken, or if she might start writing a better ending.
4. BOOK OF FORM AND GAP Author: Ruth Ozeki
BUY NOW: The Book of Form and Void By Ruth Ozeki (paperback) – Waterstones, £ 8.49
After her father dies, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear the voices of objects around her: a broken ornament, a piece of lettuce, a pair of scissors. Her mother, struggling with grief, economic instability, and a single-parent life, creates a congestion problem when her voices grow louder and louder. Benny retires to his local library, where the books are at least whispered. There, he will meet many others on the fringes of the society that adopts him, including a teenage performance artist and a homeless alcoholic philosopher, as well as a rather special book: his book, the story of his life.
5. THE ISLAND OF THE MISSING TREE Author: Elif Shafak
BUY NOW: The island of missing trees Elif Shafak-ek (paperback) – Waterstones, £ 7.49
It’s 1974 in Cyprus. The two teenagers, from different parts of the country, meet in a bar in the city called the house. The bar is Kostas, which is Greek and Christian, and Defne, which is Turkish and Muslim, is the only place that can be found in secret. Here you can find the best food in town: the best music, the best wine. But there is something else in place: he forgets, even in a few hours, the outside world and its immeasurable sorrows.
6. THE GREAT CIRCLE Author: Maggie Shipstead
BUY NOW: The Great Circle Author: Maggie Shipstead (Hardcover) – Waterstones, £ 14.99
From the night they rescued the baby from the fire of a sinking ship to the day they meet brave pilots, Marian Graves ’life has always been marked by her passion for freedom and danger. In 1950, he embarked on a Great Circle flight around the world. It is the dream and last journey of Marian’s life. He fell to the Antarctic ice and is not seen again. Half a century later, the scandal-ridden actress Hadley Baxter takes on the role of Marian Graves in her biopic, a role that explores the mysteries of the life of the missing pilot.
Wednesday, June 15th
Congratulations to the six authors listed!
