Bestsellers, Booker Nominees and Debuts: Richard Osman, Colum McCann And Abi Daré On Longlist For The 2021 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award
Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award
2021 Longlist
Goldsboro Books today (Thursday 17th June) announced the twelve titles longlisted for the 2021 Glass Bell Award. Now in its fifth year, the Glass Bell Award celebrates the best storytelling across contemporary fiction, regardless of genre. The 2021 longlist heralds a particularly strong year for debut novels: eight out of the twelve longlisted titles are first novels – including the bestselling sensation The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, both of which were nominated for the British Book Awards.
The Sin Eater - Megan Campisi (Mantle)
Blacktop Wasteland - S.A Cosby (Headline)
The Girl With the Louding Voice - Abi Daré (Sceptre)
The Familiar Dark - Amy Engel (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Court of Miracles - Kester Grant (Harper Voyager)
The First Sister - Linden Lewis (Hodder & Stoughton)
Three Hours - Rosamund Lupton (Viking)
Apeirogon - Colum McCann (Bloomsbury)
The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman (Viking)
Eight Detectives - Alex Pavesi (Michael Joseph)
The Devil and the Dark Water - Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Raven)
People of Abandoned Character - Clare Whitfield (Head of Zeus)
Spanning crime, literary, historical, fantasy and science fiction genres, the Glass Bell longlist also includes the Booker-nominated Apeirogon by the critically acclaimed Colum McCann; and Three Hours, the Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling thriller from Rosamund Lupton. They are joined by two highly anticipated second novels, The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton, whose high-concept debut thriller The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle won the Costa First Novel Award; and The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel, whose debut thriller The Roanoke Girls was a #1 bestseller.
The longlist also includes two fascinating debuts which skilfully reimagine historical events: The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi, set in an alternate Elizabethan England, and The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant, which follows a failed second French Revolution. Also longlisted is Clare Whitfield’s gripping historical thriller People of Abandoned Character, a compelling take on the Jack the Ripper story. They are joined by two critically acclaimed debut crime novels – Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby, which was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, and the extraordinarily inventive Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi. Rounding off the list is The First Sister by Linden Lewis, a sweeping debut space opera.
David Headley, Goldsboro Books co-founder and MD, and founder of the Glass Bell, says:
‘I can’t believe that this is our fifth Glass Bell Award. My team and I are incredibly proud of the prize that we’ve built over the last few years, celebrating contemporary storytelling of all genres. Stories unite and entertain us, and after the year we’ve had, this couldn’t be more important.
‘I think that this year’s longlist might be the most varied and diverse we’ve ever had – with everything from speculative historical thrillers to a thoroughly modern space opera, to one of the most imaginative crime novels I’ve ever read. And I am delighted to see how many debut novelists we have on the longlist this year! If this list is anything to go by, the future of publishing is strong.’
The Glass Bell Award is judged by David and his team at Goldsboro Books. It is the only prize that rewards storytelling in all genres – from romance, thrillers and ghost stories, to historical, speculative and literary fiction – and is awarded annually to ‘a compelling novel with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised’. The shortlist of six will be announced on 5th August, with the winner, who will receive both £2,000, and a beautiful, handmade, engraved glass bell, to be announced on 30th September.
Last year, the American novelist Taylor Jenkins Reid was awarded the Glass Bell for her ‘immersive’ and ‘captivating’ Daisy Jones and the Six, which tells the story of the rise and fall of a fictional 70s rock band. Previous winners are Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne and VOX by Christina Dalcher.
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Notes to editors
About the longlist:
Abi Daré’s New York Times bestselling debut The Girl with the Louding Voice, which follows Adunni in her struggle for freedom and happiness in modern day Lagos, was shortlisted for the 2021 British Book Award Debut Book of the Year.
Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi, the story of a battle of wits between a clever young woman and an ageing detective, was heralded as an extraordinarily creative and imaginative reinvention of the crime genre.
Author of the 2017 100,000 copy bestseller The Roanoke Girls Amy Engel returns with The Familiar Dark, a haunting tale of a murdered child, and a mother’s search for answers.
What would you do if you thought your husband was a murderer? Clare Whitfield explores this question in People of Abandoned Character, a thrilling and clever take on the Whitechapel Murders.
Critically acclaimed novelist Colum McCann explores the Israel Palestine conflict in the powerful and touching Apeirogon, which was longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Set in an alternate 19th century France, in the wake of a failed Revolution, The Court of Miracles by British-Mauritian debut novelist Kester Grant has been heralded as an exciting speculative fantasy and a beguiling feminist fairytale.
A stunning and sweeping debut novel from Linden Lewis that explores the power of technology, colonisation, race, and gender, The First Sister follows a comfort woman as she claims her agency, a soldier questioning his allegiances, and a non-binary hero out to save the solar system.
The Sin Eater by debut novelist Megan Campisi is a historical mystery set in a reimagined Elizabethan England, in which a young woman is cursed to literally eat the sins of the dying.
The debut novel from Richard Osman, presenter of beloved TV quiz show Pointless, The Thursday Murder Club has sold almost a million copies since its publication last year.
Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller Rosamund Lupton returns with her latest bestseller Three Hours, in which a school in Somerset in the middle of a blizzard finds itself under siege.
A stylish and compulsive literary thriller from S. A. Cosby, an exciting new name in American Noir, Blacktop Wasteland is a powerful novel about a man pushed to his limits when his respectable life crumbles.
The much-anticipated second novel from Stuart Turton, The Devil and the Dark Water is a fiendish maritime mystery, in which a ship is possibly being pursued by a demon.
About The Glass Bell Award
Launched in 2017, the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award is awarded annually to an outstanding work of contemporary fiction, rewarding quality storytelling in any genre. The winner of the Glass Bell will receive £2,000 in prize money, and a handmade, engraved glass bell. The jury of ten consists of team members from Goldsboro Books. There is no fee, or limit to the number of books that a publisher may submit, allowing both established and debut authors a chance to win. Previous winners are Chris Cleave, for Everyone Brave is Forgiven (Sceptre), John Boyne for The Heart’s Invisible Furies (Transworld), Christina Dalcher for VOX (HQ) and Taylor Jenkins Reid for Daisy Jones and the Six (Cornerstone).
About Goldsboro Books
Goldsboro Books is an independent bookshop, based in central London, specialising in signed first edition books. Providing an expert, knowledgeable team and a carefully curated range is at the heart of the business, delivering the best book-buying experience for every customer. Goldsboro Books aims to interest and inspire book lovers, readers and collectors and provide the finest quality signed books in the world. Goldsboro Books was founded in 1999 by two friends and book collectors David Headley and Daniel Gedeon. Their reputation for spotting quality books early on, an expert eye on the future collectibles, along with enthusiasm and passion for bookselling excellence has grown with the business and Goldsboro Books has become a world-famous and much admired bookshop. Their global reputation grew in 2013 when they were the only bookshop in the world to have signedcopies of The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith, who of course turned out to be none other than J.K. Rowling.
