Debut novel wins place on Man Booker longlist

The debut novel by Stephen Kelman chronicling gang warfare in Peckham which had languished on a literary agency’s slush pile has joined books by a former Man Booker winner, Alan Hollinghurst, and the novelist many people mistakenly think must have won, Julian Barnes, on this year’s longlist for the prize. Kelman, who was a warehouseman, care worker and local government administrator before taking up writing in 2005, was longlisted for Pigeon English, one of the more eye-catching titles in a line up that includes four first-time novelists. The book follows the story of an immigrant Ghanaian family and draws heavily on the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor in Peckham. Kelman has said he also used his own experiences growing up on a multicultural housing estate in Luton where poverty, violence and crime were commonplace. Its inclusion will give hope to all would-be writers. It eventually became the subject of a bidding war between 12 publishers when it was picked up - shrewdly as it turns out - by Bloomsbury for a “high six-figure sum”. Since then Kelman’s rise in stock has been unstoppable: he was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize, and the BBC has commissioned an adaptation to be directed by Adam Smith from Skins. The longlist announced this week was striking by its range of subject matter although given that a former spymaster is in charge, a bit more intrigue might have been expected. But former MI5 director Dame Stella Rimington told the Guardian: “There is no espionage, no,” adding “there are though two post Cold War books. Not because of me, but by general agreement”. It took judges about two hours to get the list down to 13 from the 138 books read. “We’ve had a lot of fun today,” said Rimington. “It was an impassioned debate but without any acrimony and with a great deal of humour we’ve come up with a longlist we’re all pleased with. It is a list of considerable variety, not only in the subjects but in the range of authors.” Rimington admitted it had been “a weighty burden being a judge but also extremely enjoyable and entertaining”. The Man Booker’s literary director Ion Trewin said: “This is my seventh prize and every year is different and I’m particularly pleased to see four first novels and also unfamiliar publishers. That’s great because that’s where the future is. “The sheer range this year, it seems to me to be as far-ranging in subject matter as I can recall. One of the things that’s changed over the years is that it used to be very much ‘literary’ fiction, and now if it’s a particularly good example of what you might call genre then that’s no bar to it being listed.” Evidence of that approach might be DJ Taylor’s Victorian mystery Derby Day, a book that could easily be called a thriller a rare thing on the Man Booker longlists. The one book everyone expected to appear is Alan Hollinghurst’s sweeping tale of poetry and class, The Stranger’s Child. The author, who won with his previous novel, The Line of Beauty, seven years ago, was straight away installed as 5-1 favourite by William Hill. His 584-page book is in stark contrast to second favourite Julian Barnes, a Man Booker bridesmaid shortlisted three times who makes the list with his 150-page book, The Sense of an Ending. Another familiar name is Sebastian Barry, shortlisted twice before, for On Canaan’s Side, in which an old lady reflects on a long life which took her from Dublin to Chicago. The list includes novels which failed to make it on to the radar of newspaper literary editors including Yvvette Edwards for A Cupboard Full of Coats which was not reviewed by national papers. The Hackney Citizen helped fill the gap calling it a gripping tale “of anguish and guilt.” Then there are three Canadian novels which have, as yet, made little impact in the UK. Patrick deWitt for The Sisters Brothers, Alison Pick for Far To Go and Esi Edugyan for Half Blood Blues.  Other novels on the list are Carol Birch’s 11th novel, Jamrach’s Menagerie which made the Orange prize longlist but not shortlist; Patrick McGuiness for The Last Hundred Days, which examines the end of Ceausescu’s tyranny in Romania; A D Miller’s Snowdrops, a Moscow-set crime story; and Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb.  Among the notable omissions were the 2007 winner Anne Enright The Forgotten Waltz, a lively tale of Dublin adultery and mortgages failed to make the cut. As did 2008 winner Aravind Adiga for Last Man in Tower.  There was also no place for former winner Graham Swift or 2008 shortlisters Philip Hensher and Linda Grant.  The panel chaired by Rimington also includes journalists Gaby Wood and Matthew d’Ancona, politician Chris Mullin and novelist Susan Hill who also had a stint as Booker judge 36 years ago when Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won for Heat and Dust. The shortlist of six will be announced on September 6 and the winner will be announced on 18 October. He or she will win £50,000, but the prize is worth much more than that. Apart from the kudos, they can expect a dramatic upturn in sales with Hilary Mantel’s 2009 winner Wolf Hall holding the record.