There are
four nominees in the Novel category:
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
Midwinter
in the early years of this century. A teenage girl on holiday has gone missing
in the hills at the heart of England. The villagers are called up to join the
search, fanning out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks and a
crowd of news reporters descends on their usually quiet home.
Meanwhile,
there is work that must still be done: cows milked, fences repaired, stone cut,
pints poured, beds made, sermons written, a pantomime rehearsed. The search for the missing girl goes on, but
so does everyday life. As it must.
Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney
A whaler's
daughter, Flora Mackie first crossed the Arctic Circle at the age of twelve,
falling in love with the cold and unforgiving terrain and forging lifelong
bonds with the Inuit people who have carved out an existence on its icy plains.
She sets out to become a scientist and polar explorer, despite those who
believe that a young woman has no place in this harsh world, and in 1892, her
determination leads her back to northern Greenland at the head of a British
expedition. Yearning for wider horizons,
American geologist Jakob de Beyn joins a rival expedition led by the furiously
driven Lester Armitage. When the path of Flora's expedition crosses theirs, the
three lives become intertwined. All are obsessed with the north, a place of
violent extremes: perpetual night and endless day; frozen seas and coastal
meadows; heroism and selfishness. Armitage's ruthless desire to be the
undisputed leader of polar discovery sets in motion a chain of events whose
tragic outcomes--both for his team of scientists and the indigenous people of
Greenland--will reverberate for years to come.
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
Isma is
free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their
mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that
allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about
Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother,
Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the
dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a
globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.
Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political
figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance
at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are
inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What
sacrifices will we make in the name of love?
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
It begins with a painting won in a raffle: fifteen sunflowers, hung on the wall by a woman who believes that men and boys are capable of beautiful things. And then there are two boys, Ellis and Michael, who are inseparable. And the boys become men,a nd then Annie walks into their lives, and it changes nothing and everything.
The
category winners will be announced on January 2, and the Costa Book of the
Year, on January 30.
For the
titles in the other categories, go to https://www.costa.co.uk/media/478795/combined-shortlist-2017.pdf.
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