The Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist 2026

The Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist 2026

Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps
Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi
Moderation by Elaine Castillo
Flashlight by Susan Choi
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson
The Others by Sheena Kalayil
Kingfisher by by Rozie Kelly
Heart the Lover by Lily King
Audition by Katie Kitamura
A Guardian and A Thief by Megha Majumdar
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang

Thoughts or books you have read, anyone ? Some surprising books, I think.

I have read The Correspondent, Wild Dark Shore and The Best of Everything. I reviewed them all and gave them all 4 stars, I believe. I'll be back later in the day to add my reviews and books I hope to read for the Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist 2026.

Thanks for posting the list Deborah!

I've read three: loved The Correspondent, really liked Wild Dark Shore, and Audition made me think, lol. I liked it but didn't necessarily 'get' it. I did enjoy reading about it and other reviews during its Booker prize listed discussions. It's definitely a different level book than I usually read.

I've unsuspended Flashlight on my Libby list so I should get it fairly soon. The 19 hour listen keeps giving me pause, but I will try it this time. I can get my hands on A Guardian and a Thief, Heart the Lover and Dominion in that order of my interest.

I'll be interested to hear how others get along.

>3 raidergirl3: Great to see you, Elizabeth.I loved The Correspondent too, and while I gave Wild Dark Shore 4 stars, I can't say I enjoyed it. It was well written. I think Cli Fi is not my cuppa. The Best of Everything was a solid read. I picked up Dominion at the library today.

The Correspondent was my favorite book of 2025, and I also really liked Wild Dark Shore. Unfortunately I haven't read any of the others, but I know this thread will add to my TBR.

I've read;
Flashlight by Susan Choi
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy

I really liked The Correspondent.

>6 Kristelh: Great to see you, Kristel. It seems that all / most of us here have enjoyed The Correspondent the most of what we have read from the list so far.

>5 lauralkeet: Laura, another person who's favourite so far is The Correspondent. Well, we are all guilty of adding to TBR's here on LT.

>7 vancouverdeb: Therefore, the The Correspondent will not win. Odds are against it because too many liked it.

I also loved The Correspondent, but I agree that it won't win. I won't be surprised if it doesn't even make the short list.

I have also read Wild Dark Shore and Heart the Lovers, both of which I enjoyed. I have Flashlight cued up in my library holds.

I haven't had time to do a deep dive into the other selections, but Paradiso 17, A Guardian and a Thief, and A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing have caught my eye.

I've seen lots of reviews of Audition but haven't been tempted yet, and I'm not sure it's for me.

>8 Kristelh: I'm not sure how the The Correspondent will fare on the Prize list. If it won , it would not surprise me, or if it is not shortlisted, that wouldn't surprise me either. It's so hard to say what the judges decided.

>9 japaul22: I'll be interested in your thoughts on any of the books you read from the Women's Prize Long list, Jennifer. I'm loving Dominion which I almost DNF'd in the first 20 pages or so. I am going to order The Others and The Benefactors from Blackwell Books in the UK. They take around 3 weeks to ship them to where I am located, so it will be a while until I get them.

I've made a list: https://www.librarything.com/list/47523/2026-Womens-Prize-for-Fiction-Longlist

Add your books as you read them. Come play!

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens 4.5 stars

I picked this up from the library, not knowing what to expect, but it is on the Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist 2026. During the first 20 pages or so, I thought this was going to be a DNF, but then I was totally gripped by the story. The story takes place in the year 2000, in a rural town in Mississippi, Dominion. Reverend Sabre Winfrey is a pastor at a Baptist Church, and also owns a barber shop and radio station. The family is well off and the Rev. is married to Priscilla, and has four sons, one of whom is named Emanuel, nicknamed Wonderboy.

The Rev. rules his wife and much of life with an iron fist.

Priscilla says of her husband : P.25 "my husband explained to me that because Eve ate the apple, I would have to 'eat the snake'. The act shocked and appalled me,but I was submissive to my husband like I was supposed to be."

The Rev is sometimes violent towards his wife and family dog. Priscilla copes with with him and his philandering ways with alcohol and pills. Meantime, a seventeen year old girl, Diamond falls in love with Wonderboy and it appears that Wonderboy feels the same way. But Wonderboy is not the righteous , superhuman male that he appears to be. A chance encounter with another person reveals who Wonderboy really is. Both Diamond and Priscilla love their men, though Priscilla is not keen about Diamond.

This is a fascinating and dark look at patriarchy, the damage secrets cause, and damaged people. It's fairly short at just over 200 pages, but packs an enormous punch.

Recommended.

>11 raidergirl3: Thanks , Elizabeth! I have put the books I have read in order of preference.

>12 vancouverdeb: oh wow, that sounds really good Deborah. Thanks for sharing your review.

>12 vancouverdeb:, just put this one on hold Deborah because of your rating. 8 weeks wait

>14 lauralkeet: I did like Dominion a lot , Laura. I hope you do too.

>15 Kristelh: Well, I hope you enjoy Dominion, Kristel. 8 weeks! I was lucky there were no holds at my library. I took it back today and there was one hold on it.

A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang 4.5 stars

This was a very good read , and it's hard to believe that this is the writer's debut novel.

It deals with several generations of a family that originated in China. In the late 1920's, children Ming and Fei are betrothed to each other by their parents. However the invasion of Japanese troops in China and subsequent occupation severely disrupts their marriage. Weihung is the son of Ming and Fei. Weihung's childhood is punctuated by beatings by his father and his eventual joining of the brutal Red Guard. In 2017, in Manhattan, Weihung's daughter, Qianze lives, and is a university graduate. Her father left her and her mother eleven years prior and she has not seen him since. Suddenly he turns up on Qianze's doorstep. She discovers that he suffering with dementia and is not always lucid.

Weiihung slowly reveals his past. It is very dark , and Qianze finds herself troubled by strange visions and nightmares of fox spirits and a terrifying jackalope. The family suffers with inter-generational trauma and perhaps a curse. Highly recommended.

This book made me interested in reading Flashlight by Susan Choi and Pachinko by Min Min Lee in the hope that they are similar reads.

I really liked Pachinko and am surprised that you haven’t read that one. I liked Flashlight too but I think Pachinko was better.

>18 Kristelh: I have ordered Flashlight from Amazon because I could not wait for the library holds , Kristel. I got Pachinko out from the library but we'll see if I get to it right now . I'm reading Audition by Katie Kitamura, which I did not think I would ever read, but it's on the Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist , so I am giving it a shot.

I will look forward to your thoughts on Audition, Deborah.

Audition by Katie Kitamura 2.5 stars

Initially I was taken by in by this novel. An unnamed narrator meets a younger man for lunch in a restaurant. Who is she to him ? Perhaps they are having an affair, or is he her son, as he suspects. This interested me. She explains to him that she has no children. But then in the second half, he is her son, moved into to her apartment with his girlfriend. I had trouble understanding that and really began to dislike the novel and was glad when it finished.

So what really happened in this novel ? I think possibly one of three things. I'll put most of the rest of my ideas in spoilers, in case you have not read this book and want to do so.

P.187 The narrator " what was a family if not a shared delusion, a mutual construction"
P.189 The narrator " It was as though I had been embraced by a passing madness".So, is the narrator having mental health problems?

Or is this just an Audition for part in play, as per the title. P. 189" We had been playing parts, and for a period - for as long as we understood our roles, for as long as we participated in the careful collusion that is a story, that is a family ."

Or maybe the author just wrote an alternate ending to her novel ?

I think the author is examining family. I can appreciate the occasional flashes of brilliance, but I did not enjoy this novel.

Not recommended.

>21 vancouverdeb:
Haha, I went through all the same stages when I read it. Started off intriguing, interesting lunch/reunion.

Then. when it switched, it was hard to know if it was a play? Was the first part the play? If they were related, there was definite mental issues going on. With the title, someone was an actor/director.

But yeah, ultimately too confusing. I didn’t hate it but I don’t appreciate books that aren’t direct enough.

>22 raidergirl3: So true, Elizabeth . I agree, too confusing. I didn't hate it, but I definitely did not like it , and was glad when it finished.

Flashlight by Susan Choi 3 stars

While I was interested in the events in postwar Japan, and the Korea's, overall I did not enjoy this book.

Hiroshi/ Serk is an ethnic Korean, brought up in Japan. Most of his family are taken in by the promises of Pyongyang, and relocate to North Korea. Serk remains in Japan, and becomes severed from his family . Later he meets American born Anne, and the two marry. Their only child is Louisa. Years later, Serk's career moves the family to Japan. There, Louisa and her father take a walk on the shore, and Serk, who cannot swim, and Louisa are washed into the sea. Louisa is later found alive on the beach , but her father has disappeared. What has happened to him ?

The characters in the book were very unpleasant and spent most of their time arguing . I did not see what point this served. The book is overlong , and in need of a good editor. I am interested in learning more about the events in this time period, and have a couple of other books I plan to read.

>24 vancouverdeb:. I liked Flashlight more than you did.

>25 Kristelh: Yes, you did enjoy Flashlight much more than me, Kristel. Thanks for posting your review. I'm nearly half way through The Benefactors and I like it .

The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine 4 stars

This was a fascinating and at times, heartbreaking, novel.

Bronagh, Miriam and Frankie all live in Belfast. Each has an eighteen year old son, who has taken part in sexually assaulting a young woman, Misty. Bronagh is married to Donal, and they have a son, Lyness or ' Line Up" . Bronagh is the CEO of a children's charity. Frankie grew up in care, and is married to a well off man, and is step mother to Chris. Miriam has recently been widowed, and is mother to Rami. When they find out that their sons' have sexually assaulted Misty, they gather to protect their sons as best they can.

Young Misty has been brought up by her step father Boogie, abandoned by her drug addicted mother at a very young age. Boogie's mother, Misty's step grandmother, Nana D, does her best to see Misty's best interests are served. Though still in high school, and working part time at a hotel, she has secretly made money on the side. In a less than ideal way, Misty has worked doing phone sex.

There are multiple narrators, but for the most part I found it easy to identity them and keep track of who was who.

A thought provoking read, and highly recommended .

I finished A Guardian and a Thief, a heart rendering story. A book of consequences and interconnections.

>28 Kristelh: Thanks for your excellent review of A Guardian and a Thief, Kristel, which I read on your thread. You are tempting me! I stopped by the library near where I got my hair cut today , and they were supposed to have a copy, but they did not.

I've been trying to find Kit de Waal's The Best of Everything and I couldn't find it anywhere. Not Libby, not my library, not Kobo or even Indigo. So I surmised that it must also have a different name. Sure enough, Sweet Pea by Kit de Waal is being released Nov 3, 2026 in Canada. I guess I won't be reading it before the winner is announced. I'm pretty sure it is the same book.

I also can't find The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine on any of my book sources in Canada.
>27 vancouverdeb: Where did you find it?

>30 raidergirl3: It is the same book. It's available for request on NetGalley. https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/751245

Thank you all for all of this. I used to be Orange-addicted, but judging changed somewhere in the teens. I've been less and less interested in the titles since. Therefore, the only two of these I've even heard of are The Correspondent and Flashlight. I'm reluctant to read the first because I'm no longer anxious to read about old age, being even farther along myself. I have the second sort of in the back of my mind but with no commitment.

Thank you all though for all the information so far. At least one of them is likely to hit me eventually.

I completed Moderation by Elaine Castillo. I thought this one has potential.

Here's my review.

>30 raidergirl3: Elizabeth, I ordered The Best of Everything from Blackwells in the UK shortly after it was published. I am fan on Kit De Waal's writing. I also ordered The Benefactors and The Others from Blackwells once I heard the Women's Longlist for Fiction was announced.

>32 LizzieD: I look forward to hearing about what ever suits your fancy from the Women's Prize for Fiction, Peggy.

>33 Kristelh: Thanks for your review of Moderation, Kristel. Well done.

>31 amanda4242: thanks for the suggestion. I have it now through Netgalley!