BOOKS: Orange Prize 2006 Shortlist

The shortlist is finally out for this year's Orange Prize award. The Orange Prize is one of the few book awards for fiction written by women. Why do we need it? Because it's still a predominantly male-centred literary world.

The Shortlist:

The History Of Love by Nicole Krauss
Viking

It is 60 years since Leo fell in love with a girl called Alma in the Polish village where he was born and wrote a book in her honour. He assumes that the book, and his dreams, are lost, until they return to him in a brown envelope.

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Harper Perennial

Alison, a medium, tours London's dormitory towns with flint-hearted Colette. But behind her smile is desperation: the next life holds terrors she must conceal from her clients, and she is plagued by the spirits of men from her past.

The Accidental by Ali Smith
Hamish Hamilton

The mundane summer holiday of 12-year-old Astrid and her family - mother Eve, stepfather Michael and elder brother Magnus - is interrupted by the arrival of Amber, who turns up on the doorstep and ends up staying. Who is she and what does she want?

Everyman's Rules For Scientific Living by Carrie Tiffany
Picador

In 1934, the Better Farming Train slides through Australia's fields and small towns, bringing advice to those living on the land. In its carriages, an love affair develops between idealists Robert and Jean.

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Virago

Moving back through the 1940s through air raids, black-outs and illicit liaisons to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch is the story of four Londoners - three women and a young man with a past.

From The Guardian