I'm delighted that Catherine O'Flynn's book What Was Lost has received yet another accolade, and has been shortlisted for the Costa First Book Award.
This novel, published by Tindal Street Press, has been longlisted for the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize, shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award (winner to be announced on the 5th December) and now shortlisted for the Costa.
Catherine is a Birmingham writer and Tindal Street press is a small independent publisher with a big reputation for discovering stunning new debut novels. So the success of the book feels like a real success for the city and the region.
So have you read it yet? And if not, why not? You can buy the book from bookshops or Tindal Street online.
Here is a snippet about the book to tell you more:
Kate Meaney, What Was Lost’s heroine, is a nine-year-old with a passion for clues, suspects and subterfuge, who spends her time staking out Green Oaks shopping centre and trying to prevent crime. Catherine says: ‘There are certainly similarities between Kate and myself at that age. There was a ten-year age gap between my closest sibling and me and so I spent quite a lot of time on my own. I had various Usborne books filled with advice on clues and suspects and methods of detection. It never occurred to me to take these with a pinch of salt – they were gospel to me. I used to sit outside the Lloyds bank in Nechells for hours and take down car registration numbers diligently. I can’t fully express my disappointment that nothing remotely clandestine ever occurred.’
This novel, published by Tindal Street Press, has been longlisted for the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize, shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award (winner to be announced on the 5th December) and now shortlisted for the Costa.
Catherine is a Birmingham writer and Tindal Street press is a small independent publisher with a big reputation for discovering stunning new debut novels. So the success of the book feels like a real success for the city and the region.
So have you read it yet? And if not, why not? You can buy the book from bookshops or Tindal Street online.
Here is a snippet about the book to tell you more:
Kate Meaney, What Was Lost’s heroine, is a nine-year-old with a passion for clues, suspects and subterfuge, who spends her time staking out Green Oaks shopping centre and trying to prevent crime. Catherine says: ‘There are certainly similarities between Kate and myself at that age. There was a ten-year age gap between my closest sibling and me and so I spent quite a lot of time on my own. I had various Usborne books filled with advice on clues and suspects and methods of detection. It never occurred to me to take these with a pinch of salt – they were gospel to me. I used to sit outside the Lloyds bank in Nechells for hours and take down car registration numbers diligently. I can’t fully express my disappointment that nothing remotely clandestine ever occurred.’
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