What better day to publish The Bailey’s Women Prize for fiction long-list than today, International Women’s Day. With a list of 16 books by established authors and a few newcomers there’s plenty of choice. But which one to choose? I enjoyed Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent, a love story set in Victorian England which is beautifully written, but at times a bit slow. Perry is definitively an author to look out for, though. I was less keen on Rose Tremain’s The Gustav Sonata, a post-WW2 story about a boy growing up in Switzerland which seemed to have too many loose threads at the end. I’m quite curious about The Power, especially on a day like today, which presents an alternative world where women have all the power…

The winner will be annouced on 7th June. If you want to know more about the books on the short-list, click here.

Stay With Me,  Ayobami Adebayo
The Power,  Naomi Alderman
Hag-Seed,  Margaret Atwood
Little Deaths, Emma Flint
The Mare, Mary Gaitskill
The Dark Circle, Linda Grant
The Lesser Bohemians, Eimear McBride
Midwinter, Fiona Melrose
The Sport of Kings, C.E. Morgan
The Woman Next Door, Yewande Omotoso
The Lonely Hearts Hotel, Heather O’Neill
The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
Barkskins, Annie Proulx
First Love, Gwendoline Riley
Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien
The Gustav Sonata, Rose Tremain