Whitbread Shortlists

The shortlists for Whitbread Book Awards have been announced. For the novel, the nominees are:

Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories
Louis de Bernieres’ Birds Without Wings
Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty
Andrea Levy’s Small Island

There’s also a first novel category. Here’s the shortlist.

Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Richard Collins’ The Land as Viewed from the Sea
Susan Fletcher’s Eve Green
Panos Karnezis’s The Maze

Beside the category awards, one book is selected over the others as overall Whitbread Book of the Year. All the attention appears to be focused on Susanna Clarke, which is a sure sign that jurors won’t pick that book. Additional coverage from The Independent and The Guardian.