There’s only one hair colour that matters in the literary
world this year, as the Costa Book Awards followed the Man Booker by giving
their ‘Best Novel’ gong to a blonde, in this case Kate Atkinson for Life After
Life. Other category winners were Nathan Filer for First Novel, Lucy
Hughes-Hallet for Biography, Chris Riddel for Children's Writing and Michael Symmons Roberts for Poetry.
Kate Atkinson’s victory follows her success in the Guardian’s
Not-the-Booker Prize – the fact that she was able to carry both shows how well
she blended literary merit with popular appeal (it should be noted that Life
After Life didn’t pick up many of the public votes in the Guardian’s prize, but
that probably just indicates that Atkinson didn’t spend much time pestering her
friends). In light of her great year, it’s maybe a surprise that she was missed
from the Booker longlist. Perhaps her background in crime fiction is held
against her? And it’s a case of ‘always the bridesmaid’ for Evie Wyld, whose
second novel All the Birds, Singing received a great reaction on publication,
and featured on a number on longlists, but came up short each time.
I would have been happy to see either Nathan Filer or Sam Byers win the First Novel award; both are extremely strong debuts, with
idiosyncratic worldviews and plenty of dark comedy. Pitched somewhere between
Vernon God Little and We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Shock of the Fall makes
important comments about the treatment and perception of mental health, propelled
along by protagonist Matthew, an extremely memorable narrative voice. Filer’s
debut was the subject of a major bidding war between publishers, and the novel has
proved itself strong enough to justify the hype.
It may be surprising that a lengthy biography of an obscure
Italian fascist should pick up a literary award that focuses on entertainment
value, but this is testament to the great ability of The Pike’s author, Lucy
Hughes-Hallet. Her book is equally confident discussing intimate biographical
details and wider cultural movements, and a wealth of background detail is
incorporated without the text becoming dense. Again, there was great competition
for the prize, with Olivia Laing’s study of alcoholism and American literature,
The Trip to Echo Spring, being especially impressive.
Unfortunately not having read any of the shortlisted
authors, I can’t comment on the poetry or children's categories (though I do like the look of Goth Girl). Overall, though, I think the
Costas deserve praise for balancing the virtues of readability and literary
quality very well. Clearly, none of the award winners belong to the dusty world
of literary elitism, but all show great merit, and no-one could pick holes in
the writing. All have shown an ability to connect with an audience without
relentless marketing pressure, or superstar status. In terms of the overall
winner, the bookies' favourite is The Pike, but for me it’s hard to see beyond Kate Atkinson. If I was on the judging panel, I would be championing Nathan Filer, but I’d argue that any of the books I've mentioned would be worthy of the big prize;
whatever happens at the end of the month, we’re likely to get a deserving winner.
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