The news is in - Monique Roffey has been shortlisted for the 2020 Costa Best Novel Award. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey joins excellent books by Susanna Clarke, Denise Mina, Julian Barnes, Rachel Long, Martha Sprackland, Caroline Bird and the late Eavan Boland in making the Costa Book Awards lists across fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
The judges said Monique's book 'combines a seductive fable with the visceral realism of a Caribbean island'. Meanwhile, on BBC Front Row, Jade Cuttle described the book as 'a joy to read', 'vividly infused with a sense of place', 'the imagery is just wonderful and really engages all the senses'. Irenosen Okojie called Monique 'a daring writer'. You can listen to the full awards show on the BBC website.
There are five awards categories overall, including first novels and children's books, and the winner of each category receives £5,000.
The Costa Book of the Year will be chosen from among them, and get £30,000 prize.
2020 Costa book awards shortlists
First novel
Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen (John Murray Publishers)
The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain (HQ)
Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud (Faber)
All the Water in the World by Karen Raney (Two Roads)
Novel
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Peace Talks by Tim Finch (Bloomsbury Publishing)
The Less Dead by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffey (Peepal Tree)
Biography
The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes (Jonathan Cape)
Dear Life by Rachel Clarke (Little, Brown)
The Louder I Will Sing by Lee Lawrence (Sphere)
Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadow Play by Jeff Young (Little Toller Books)
Poetry
The Air Year by Caroline Bird (Carcanet)
The Historians by Eavan Boland (Carcanet)
My Darling from the Lions by Rachel Long (Picador)
Citadel by Martha Sprackland (Pavilion Poetry)
Children’s books
Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger)
Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant (Faber)
The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates by Jenny Pearson (Usborne)
The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff (Bloomsbury Publishing)
