First, but least, I’m afraid, is Joanne Harris’s second novel, Blackberry Wine (Black Swan), which features a talkative wine bottle and comes nowhere near Chocolat, her first big success, nor her latest novel, Five Quarters of the Orange.
Also not up to his previous work, Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost (Picador) has an exotic Sri Lankan setting and some good ideas, but his cast of loners fails to come alive.
Isabel Allende tells a gripping tale in Daughter of Fortune (Flamingo), which centres on a young woman who follows her careless lover to the Californian gold rush. This is a rich novel peopled by believable characters, not least the “fortyniners” and the unfortunate women who serve their needs.
Eddie’s Bastard (Black Swan) by William Kowalski is about a boy’s relationships with the reclusive grandfather who rears him, and his relationship with his young friend Anne. This accomplished debut is written in a readable, natural style with touches of surrealism.
Kent Harif, on the other hand, is an established writer whose nominated novel, Plainsong (Picador), was shortlisted for the National Book Award in the United States. This well-structured narrative with its impressive Colorado setting centres on a group of people whose intriguing interaction gives a new dimension to the concept of family.
While Plainsong and Eddie’s Bastard are definitely worth reading, the shortlisted book I think deserves to win is Prodigal Summer (Faber & Faber), Barbara Kingsolver’s fourth novel. Though perhaps not quite as exciting as The Poisonwood Bible, Prodigal Summer tells three interrelated stories, all concerned with women rising above adversity and the folly of harming the earth’s resources.
Deanna Wolfe is a forest ranger, divorced and living alone in an isolated cabin. Her feeling for nature is wonderfully evoked and complements that of Nannie Rawley, an elderly garden lover, furiously at odds with her old enemy, Garnett Walker.
The third strand of the narrative concerns Polish-Arab-American Lusa from Lexington who, after her husband’s death, is trying to adapt to his rural sisters and their disapproval of her struggle to run a farm on her own.
Set in Kingsolver’s native Appalachia, the novel has a strong sense of place and affirmation, as well as real and often touching characters.
In all respects, Prodigal Summer seems to be the most deserving of the Boeke crown.
The overall winner of the “Boeke” Prize, as voted by literary critics around the country, will be made public on October 10