The Booker Prize 2022 Longlist

The Booker Prize longlist was announced on Tuesday. The 13 titles are:

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Trust by Hernan Diaz
The Trees by Percival Everett
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shahan Karunatilaka
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
The Colony by Audrey Magee
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
After Sappho by Selby Lynn Schwartz
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

In my predictions post, I correctly guessed three out of the 13 titles, and I am pleased to see Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet on the longlist. I am looking forward to reading ‘Trust’ by Hernan Diaz and ‘The Colony’ by Audrey Magee which were my other two predictions. I have already picked up a copy of ‘Booth’ by Karen Joy Fowler from the library this week which is a historical novel about the family of John Wilkes Booth, the man who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln.

Some of the recent Booker Prize longlists have been dominated by well-known authors – particularly in 2019 and 2021 – whereas this year’s selection has seen a few more surprises, such as 87-year-old Alan Garner nominated alongside 20-year-old Leila Mottley, the youngest ever person to be longlisted for her debut novel. I have heard unanimously positive reviews of ‘The Trees’ by Percival Everett which is about a series of murders in a rural town in Mississippi and ‘Small Things Like These’ by Claire Keegan which addresses what happened in the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

The shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 6 September. What are your thoughts on this year’s longlist?