Let’s set the scene: Lucy has just gotten back from LA; it’s near midnight and she’s dying for a slice of pizza 🍕. But oh no! With a groan, she realizes she’s forgotten her house keys back on the other side of the country. Screw it, she checks into a shady motel around the corner, wakes up to blinding sunlight and a call that lets her know…
We have not one, not two, but THREE authors on the Booker longlist!!! Eureka!
Congratulations Elizabeth Strout (Oh William!), Karen Joy Fowler (Booth), and Leila Mottley (Nightcrawling)!
To add even more excitement: Leila is also the youngest author ever to be nominated for the Booker! This comes on the heels of other thrilling news that has surrounded this stellar publication: a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah Book Club Pick, Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize Longlist, New York Times Writer to Watch, an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, annnnnnd most recently, an appearance on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah!
My gosh, I would have been a nervous wreck in front of Trevor Noah, but Leila? Absolutely not! Here is what Trevor had to say:
“The biggest rockstar in the world of books right now… One of the most amazing books I’ve ever read… Everyone should just read [Nightcrawling].” —Trevor Noah
A dazzling novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system--“the debut of a blazingly original voice and a soul-searching portrait of survival and hope” —Oprah Winfrey
Karen has had a fantastic publication across the pond and here, which is telling by the reviews she’s gotten from both countries! So far, Booth has been picked as best book of the year by USA Today, Waterstones, Real Simply, and AARP. It’s also an indie bestseller, an Amazon Pick for March 2022, as well as a Book of the Month pick.
An epic and intimate novel about the family behind one of the most infamous figures in American history: John Wilkes Booth. Booth is a startling portrait of a country in the throes of change and a vivid exploration of the ties that make, and break, a family.
I wanted to highlight this NPR conversation, which gets to the fascinating questions Karen had to face when writing Booth.
SIMON: How do you balance your writing as a historian and a novelist in a work like this?
FOWLER: This is actually not my first historical novel, but it is the first one in which I dealt with actual people… This was a whole new endeavor for me and one I'm not entirely comfortable with even having done it, that, you know, to use famous names and attribute to them thoughts they might have had, but they also might not have had… because, of course, I am only pretending to know them well. I'm making my best guesses.
FOWLER: The last thing I wanted to do was to give more attention to John Wilkes Booth. And so I tried really and I believe with all my heart that people who don't murder presidents can be just as interesting as people who do and that actually John Wilkes was not the most interesting member of this family. So I tried to keep the focus on his brothers and sisters. But, you know, we all know I wouldn't be writing about them if John Wilkes Booth hadn't murdered Abraham Lincoln. So he's sort of simultaneously somebody I'm trying to keep from absolute center stage and the whole reason we're interested in this family.
Elizabeth Strout strikes again with Oh William!, the 3rd in the Amgash series, and the second book in this series (the first being My Name is Lucy Barton) to be longlisted for the Booker Award! And readers can rejoice, as Elizabeth continues the series with LUCY BY THE SEA, coming out in hardcover this September.
Oh William! is a New York Times bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by these outlets: The New York Times Book Review, NPR’s Fresh Air, The Washington Post, Time, Vulture, She Reads.
"Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favorite writers, so the fact that Oh William! may well be my favorite of her books is a mathematical equation for joy. The depth, complexity, and love contained in these pages is a miraculous achievement." —Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
“Strout doesn’t dress language up in a tuxedo when a wool sweater will suffice. Other novelists must berate themselves when they see what Strout pulls off without any tacky pyrotechnics. Straightforward goes down so easy and feels so refreshing.” —The Washington Post
Oh William! is out now in paperback if you haven’t picked it up yet! I’ve also included a snippet of the audiobook above, if you’re an audio kind of person.
Congratulations again to our 3 authors! All our limbs are crossed for the shortlist.
—Marin
P.S.: Not bad for a team of 5, I must say! Did I mention that this is the record for most titles per agency? Hehe.