Every year I say “only buy the the shortlist” and every year I buy the longlist. And I think it’s because some of my favourite reads have come from those on the longlist that don’t make it onto the shortlist, and I’d be missing out on them. So here we are for another year. The Women’s Prize Longlist For Fiction 2026.
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens. Published by Europe in 2026
Did I enjoy it? Well…I didn’t not enjoy it. The characters were interesting, the writing gripping. But if you asked me for an explanation as to what it was about…I’m not sure I could give you a confident answer, it’s more about feelings than plot. It doesn’t have chapters as such, nor sections, a bit of a blur between the two, but either way I found them a little longer than I normally like. It’s also really miserable. It felt considerably longer than it was. Overall it was a difficult read, but it did have its highlights.
The Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang. Published by Dead Ink in 2026.
What a strange book this is. It’s a complicated novel about human relationships, memory, and trauma, an it is rather miserable. I found it hard to lose myself in, I wasn’t sure what it was meant to be. I’d have preferred it to have been a literary piece or a fantasy, but it was this dark, complex story with random magical elements that felt out of place. I’d rather have read an account of the characters more than its to-ing and fro-ing narrative style. I found it really boring and difficult to understand and I admit I didn’t read right to the end because I realised I didn’t care what happened.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. Published by Canongate in 2025.
This was so atmospheric. I didn’t think much of the actual story but the world building and atmosphere and characters she’s created are good. The characters are not necessarily nice characters, in fact I found them all to be quite unlikeable, but they are well written and I enjoyed reading about them. And she’s made it feel so claustrophobic and on edge. But it felt like nothing was going on, but at the same time like too much was going on, and so I couldn’t pin down what it was actually about. At times it was very beautiful but overall it’s sad and grim and dirty and a bit absurd.
Moderation by Elaine Castillo. Published by Atlantic in 2025.
A quote on the book said it was ideal if you liked reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I didn’t, so I was a little concerned. It’s not the easiest book to read because some of the topics are rather unpalatable but that’s to be expected from a book about internet moderation. The chapters were sooo long – some 80 pages! What I did like is it was unusual. Most prize lists are full of, let’s be honest, quite highbrow, literary, often pretentious books, but this was fantasy, sci-fi even. It still had important topics but it was a bit more fun than I expected. It dipped in the middle, and I think it tried to be too many things, and there was this forced romance, and the end felt at woods with the rest. But overall it was absorbing and I read it in a day.
Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi. Published by Fourth Estate in 2026.
I’m not a huge fan of “literary” books overall, you know the ones that make you work for it. And this sounded like it was going to be that way but it wasn’t. That’s not to say it’s not a clever book, because it is. But I loved it. It’s so lyrical and poetical. I’ve not read her books before but her use of language is first class. I knew from the prologue it would be tough to read without crying and safe to say I failed that. The one thing stopping it from being perfect is that there’s no speech marks, and I hate it when there’s no speech marks. For me, it adds nothing to a book and takes away so much.
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal. Published by Tinder Press in 2026.
This was surprisingly easy to read. Considering the quite intense subject matter, I thought it would be difficult but I flew through it. Paulette wasn’t an interesting protagonist. She’s a bit naive and lost but she was so warm and I liked her instantly. There’s not a huge amount of plot, but what is there is lovely to read and the characters, some more likeable than others, just rule the book. The plot becomes background and I just wanted to read one of Kit’s books before and that was non-fiction and so I didn’t know what to expect from this. It’s a gentle book and it will almost surprise you with how much you’ll like it. It is slow at times, yes, but the characters and emotions behind everything more than makes up for it.
Gloria Don’t Speak by Lucy Apps. Published by Weatherglass in 2026.
I didn’t think this was going to be my kind of thing but I went with it anyway and before I knew it I was halfway, it’s so absorbing. I have personal experience working with people with disabilities and so I felt a love for Gloria. But hers is a character and a story we don’t see as protagonists in literature and I think Lucy has done marvellously with it. It’s not an easy book to read in terms of subject matter, it is sad and dark and chaotic. It’s well well written. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. It’s a little slow in places but that’s not a biggie and it really was a marvellous read.
The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson. Published by Cassava in 2025.
The choice of a child narrator was genius, and to start it with that child talking from inside the womb was unlike anything I’ve read. Mercy is an interesting character and we get to know her over several years. Nice short chapters which I like. It’s thin on plot but big on character which is good. I do struggle sometimes when books are written in a particular dialect or accent (that’s a me problem, not a book problem) but it didn’t feel overwhelming in this. It’s probably not a book I’d choose to read if it wasn’t on the Women’s Prize longlist, but I’m glad I did. I didn’t find it the easiest book to read, but it was interesting, gripping, and really tender.
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar. Published by Scribner in 2026.
I’m not sure what I was expecting exactly but I can say it wasn’t what I was expecting. I found it all a bit chaotic. Nothing much happens, it’s very character heavy, which is fine, they’re very well written characters, but I do admit I struggled at times to follow what was actually meant to be going on plot-wise. I also wish more was made of the futuristic Kolkata. It’s clearly not a Kolkata of today, but if it hadn’t said so in the blurb I probably wouldn’t have put two and two together. But I do admire her use of language, it is a beautifully written story, and her skill in storytelling.
Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly. Published by Saraband in 2025.
This is 200 pages split into 50 chapters, which means short chapters, some only a paragraph or two long, and I really like a short chapter as they help the story flow more. This book had a lot of work to do because it had no speech marks and I cannot stand books with no speech marks, and I’m inclined to hate books that have no speech marks, so year, I needed the story and characters to do a lot of heavy lifting and I think it was too big an ask. I’m not a prude in any way, and sex scenes do have their place in literature but it felt odd in this. It was like she was in competition with herself as to how many references to sex she could put in, whether it worked in context or not, like she had to prove it was a grown-up book by repeatedly mentioning penises…penii? I can acknowledge the writing is beautiful but it felt like she was more focussed on that than actually making the plot interesting or giving us any character depth.
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine. Published by Sceptre in 2025.
I struggled BIG TIME with this. I had no idea who was talking at any one time. Normally in a book with multiple POVs, it says on the top of the chapter who is speaking, but this doesn’t, and so the “I” could be anyone – and sometimes the narrator even changed mid-sentence. I didn’t know who was related to whom or what on Earth was going on. From a neutral standpoint I can appreciate her use of language, and I’m sure there was a good story in there somewhere but I just could not get through the noise to get to it, so it was completely lost on me.
The Others by Sheena Kalayil. Published by Fly on the Wall in 2025.
I thought this was going to be too smart for me. You know the kind of literary book that often cares more about the intelligence of the sentences than whether they actually make sense. But this didn’t. This had both, and it was really smooth to read. There are difficult topics and it is in my view, about 90% character and 10% plot, so bear that in mind. It is quite intricate which means I did get lost a few times in regards to relationships and who people were to others etc. but overall I enjoyed it. It’s not a period of history I know much about so I also found it interesting without being preachy. My one main issue for me is the dialogue didn’t sound natural, which jarred. I mean, I find dialogue hard to write so I can’t really judge, but I did stumble over it a few times.
Heart the Lover by Lily King. Published by Canongate in 2025.
Oh fine, I’ll fall in love with another Lily King book if I have to! She could teach a class on how to use the English language to tell a story. And I don’t mean in a really deep scholarly way. Her grasp of how to use simple language to convey such complex topics and emotions is second to known. If anyone wanted to read a book with a simple plot but the best characters, this would be it. She’s got this talent of saying so much by writing so little. Her way of writing is one I can only hope to emulate. I tried putting it down when I went to bed but I couldn’t. It was more important than sleep – which is something I never say. It is so heartbreakingly perfect.
Flashlight by Susan Choi. Published by Jonathan Cape in 2025.
Audition by Katie Kitamura. Published by Fern Press in 2025.
I read both Flashlight and Audition in 2025 as part of the Booker Prize Longlist. You’ll find my reviews HERE.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Published by Michael Joseph in 2025.
I was lucky enough to read this in 2025 and so you’ll find my full review HERE.
*****
Shortlist
Pending
*****
My Predictions
Pending shortlist
Books By Your Bedside 