The author is up against 21 other writers who published novels in English in 1970 for the “lost” Booker Prize.The books were never considered for the prize at the time. The reason? The Booker was originally awarded for any book published in the previous year. But in 1971, it became a prize for the best novel published that year. That meant that a raft of books published in 1970 were left out in the cold.
Murdoch’s “A Fairly Honourable Defeat” is up against 21 other works, including “The Fire Dwellers” by Margaret Laurence, Len Deighton’s “Bomber,” “A Guilty Thing Surprised,” by Ruth Rendell, and “A Clubbable Woman,” by Reginald Hill. All the books on the list are still in print and available today. A shortlist for the prize will be announced in March. The eventual winner is to be decided by a public vote on the Man Booker Prize Web site and will be announced in May.
