I had a lot of expectations going into reading the 2021 Booker shortlist. First off, I thought I could read all 6 books in a little less than two months. I could not do that – I have read all of them, I have not finished all of them. I had a lot of questions about what makes a good book, and what is considered a good book right now. But I was also really excited to do a deep dive into something I have been very interested in for a couple of years now.

My obsession with the Booker Prize began with Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones. The book was originally published by Tramp Press, one of my favourite independent publishers in Ireland. Tramp Press is a women-run publishing house that publishes new works as well as books that have gotten lost and forgotten in the male-dominated publishing world. Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones is an incredible novel that went on to win the 2016 Goldsmith award but was not eligible for the Booker Prize because it was published by an Irish publisher. The next year the novel was picked up by a UK publishing house and immediately longlisted for the Booker. In 2018, the rules were changed allowing books published by Irish publishers to be eligible for the award.

In that same year, we had an Irish winner with Anna Burns’ Milkman. I just knew Milkman was going to win. It was a book by an Irish author about Ireland and I also happen to live in Ireland, so why wouldn’t it win? I was so excited when it did win and was seriously regretting not placing a bet on it. Did you know that you can bet on the Booker Prize? I wonder how the authors feel about being bet on like horses.

Milkman’s win was such an exciting win. Burns’ sales skyrocketed, increasing by 880% during the first week after the win and the prize money allowed her to pay off her debts. Burns had thanked a foodbank and housing charity in the acknowledgements section of Milkman, both of which had assisted the author by providing her with food and housing while she wrote the novel.

The Booker and literary prizes like this have the capacity to change these authors’ lives. Some of these authors that get nominated are doing fine, but writing is not a lucrative career. The prize money for the Booker is £50,000. That is an incredible amount of money even for a best-selling author.

I went into this little project of reading the Booker shortlist in an attempt to figure out what a good book is in 2021. The world has changed so much, we have changed so much and I was wondering if literature had changed too.

I found parts of our current reality in these books. Obviously, these books were all written before the pandemic, but they contain a lot of the things that we are still struggling with. Richard Power’s Bewilderment paints a stark portrait of the ongoing climate catastrophe and looks for life among the stars. Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This contains a ‘dictator’ and a United States where increasingly restrictive laws on women’s bodies threaten the lives of American women. I don’t know why I found these inclusions surprising, these writers are just writing about what they know and this is what we all know now.

Not all of these novels were so current. Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle contains parallel stories set in the past and near-present of two women – pilot Marian Graves and actor Hadley Baxter. When I first started reading this novel I naively googled ‘Marian Graves’ wondering how I had never heard of this remarkable woman. She’s fictional, that’s why. But this work of historical fiction almost reads like a detailed and loving biography. This novel is immense, both in physical size and narrative detail. In all honesty, I have yet to finish it but I look forward to doing so. (It’s 589 pages and I had 5 other books to read!)

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed takes place in 1950’s Wales and tells the story of Mahmood Mattan, a man who is googleable though I would not recommend doing so until after you have read this incredible novel. Don’t google him, just read the book. The Fortune Men brings to life the community of post-war Tiger Bay and reminds us that the issue of systemic racism that has been plaguing our world has always been there.

When announcing the Booker shortlist, one of the things the judges talked about was selecting books that were immersive and contained strong narrative voices. A Passage North and The Promise both fit that description. Anuk Arudpragasm’s A Passage North contains the slow and intimate story of Krishan as he makes a journey to the war-torn Northern Province of Sri Lanka to attend the funeral of his grandmother’s caregiver. The narrative voice of this book is thick, distinct and incredibly familiar. This novel explores life, death and our connections with those around us. The Promise by Damon Galgut tells the story of a white South African family who have promised their black maid Salome that they will give her the home she lives in. I loved how this book was narrated, with the narrator jumping from person to person, between the living and the dead.

Literature has stayed the same. Of course it has. Like everyone else, I have had a bit of a hard time reading over the last year. And what I was able to read was usually silly and light romantic fluff. I did not want to read anything sad or serious or emotional because the world felt overwhelmingly sad and serious and emotional. But there was something incredibly cathartic about being moved by literature once again. About being moved to tears by something other than the news, homesickness or stress at work. Reading these books, becoming consumed and sometimes overwhelmed by them, felt like the world was coming back into focus again.

But only one of these books can win the 2021 Booker Prize. Tonight, we find out which one. The bookies have given Damon Galgut’s The Promise the highest odds and I would be delighted to see that book win. But I’m putting my money on Richard Power’s Bewilderment. It’s an incredible book. And I also love the idea of angering the Brits who are still upset over the fact that Americans are eligible for this prize, but that would just be a bonus.

I think there is a general perception that these sort of prizes are awarded to dense books that only the nerdiest of English majors would enjoy. I was an English major, I actually have two English degrees but one of them is the fun type. But all of these books are wonderful, they are emotional and funny and probably some of the best literature that has been produced this year. So give yourself a treat and buy whichever one ends up winning tonight from your local independent bookstore. I really think you will enjoy it.