When Cemal comes to take her away, to Istanbul she is told, the reader knows by the responses of the villagers (cruel jokes from some, tears from others) the true fate of the other girls who have ‘gone to Istanbul’, the girls who no one has heard from since. Meryem is bright and energetic, a winsome, naïve fifteen-year old village girl from Eastern Turkey.

On the other hand, it held my interest, which many books have failed to do recently, and each of the three main characters gives fascinating insight into the multiple identities of modern Turkey. You’d think that the story of Meryem, a young woman raped by her uncle and of Cemal, the cousin who has been tasked with carrying out the honour killing would be gripping and most likely disturbing. On the one hand, it certainly didn’t thrill me. Livaneli with my other recent lackluster reads. I’m especially looking forward to reading The Invisible Bridge, A Visit from the Goon Squad and Swamplandia!, but I am also interested in trying the ones that I haven’t heard of before.I’m not quite sure if I want to class Bliss by O.Z. I love the way these prizes introduce me to many books that I haven’t heard of, but I’m no longer going to force myself to complete anything that I’m not enjoying. I am going to try the entire longlist, but I am not going to complete them all. Have I just been unlucky in reading books with a similar style? Is the rest of the list more diverse? This worries me when I think about tackling the rest of the long list.Īre any books with fantastic plots hiding in the longlist? It looks as though the Orange Prize judges all share a taste in books as I can see many similarites in style and have noticed that plot isn’t a high priority for any of them. I was very happy to see Room by Emma Donoghue and The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna, but many of the other books on the list have failed to engage me. I have tried and given up on a surprising percentage. Why didn’t the outstanding The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins make it? What about the quirky, entertaining When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman? My immediate thoughts on looking at the list were of disappointment. NB: DNF = Started book, but did not finish it. Anne Peile – Repeat it Today with Tears.Lola Shoneyin – The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives.Jennifer Egan – A Visit from the Goon Squad.Emma Henderson – Grace Williams Says it Loud DNF.I correctly guessed eight of them, which I thought was quite good considering that I didn’t even know which books had been submitted.

Last week I predicted which books would make the Orange longlist.

Annabel kathleen winter summary