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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →The 2024 Booker Prize shortlist brought together six novels, including five by women authors. Read the opening line from each book’s official online extract below, then follow the link to continue reading the Foundation’s sample. The shortlist was announced on 16 September 2024; Samantha Harvey’s Orbital went on to win the prize.
What was on the 2024 Booker Prize shortlist?
The six titles were selected from a longlist of 13, itself chosen from 156 books published between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024 and submitted by publishers. The Booker Prize Foundation described the shortlist as five women and one man—the largest number of women in the prize’s 55-year history at that point. Each shortlisted author received £2,500 and a bespoke bound edition.
Edmund de Waal, chair of the 2024 judges, said: “Here is storytelling in which people confront the world in all its instability and complexity.”
Opening lines from the six shortlisted novels
Each quotation below is the opening line shown on the Booker Prize Foundation’s online extract page. The links lead to the full official opening-chapter extracts; wording or pagination may differ in print editions.
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James by Percival Everett
“Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.”
Everett reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn around Jim’s perspective and family, following a journey along the Mississippi River. The extract begins with Jim waiting outside Miss Watson’s kitchen. Read the official James extract.
Rank #2
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
“Rotating about the earth in their spacecraft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene.”
Harvey’s novel follows six astronauts circling Earth as they reflect on the planet, human life and their ties to home. Orbital won the 2024 Booker Prize. Read the official Orbital extract.
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Rank #3
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
“Neanderthals were prone to depression, he said.”
The novel follows Sadie Smith, an American undercover agent infiltrating an eco-activist commune in rural France. Its opening turns on a message about Neanderthals. Read the official Creation Lake extract.
Held by Anne Michaels
“We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?”
Michaels begins on a 1917 battlefield, where John is badly injured, and follows a story that spans generations. Read the official Held extract.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
“Isabel found a broken piece of ceramic under the roots of a dead gourd.”
Set in the Dutch province of Overijssel fifteen years after the Second World War, the novel follows Isabel’s orderly life as it is disrupted when her brother brings Eva to stay. Read the official The Safekeep extract.
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
“Arrive finally at about three.”
Wood’s novel follows a woman returning to rural New South Wales and a religious community, where a mouse plague and other visitations unsettle her retreat. Read the official Stone Yard Devotional extract.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which shortlisted novel should you read first?
The six openings point toward very different reading experiences: a reimagined classic and river journey in James; astronauts and planetary perspective in Orbital; an undercover operation in rural France in Creation Lake; a battlefield beginning and a multi-generational arc in Held; a postwar Dutch household in The Safekeep; and a return to a religious community in rural Australia in Stone Yard Devotional. Choose by setting and premise—or sample the linked extracts and see which opening draws you in.
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