Booker Prize Nominees Include Novels by Kiran Desai, Katie Kitamura and Susan Choi
But she struggled to write a follow-up.
Now, almost two decades later, Desai has been nominated for the Booker again — for 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,' the novel that she was grappling with during that time.
On Tuesday, the Booker Prize judges announced the 13 novels nominated for this year's edition of the prestigious British literary award, with Desai's novel arguably the highest profile.
Other nominees include Katie Kitamura's 'Audition,' about an actress who becomes embroiled with a man who claims to be her son; Susan Choi's 'Flashlight,' a Korean American family saga; and David Szalay's 'Flesh,' which tells the tale of a man who inveigles his way to a life of privilege.
In Desai's novel, which is scheduled for a Sept. 23 release, two immigrants to the United States return to their native India and meet on an overnight train. The 667-page book has yet to receive any major reviews, but the Booker Prize's judges — who this year include Roddy Doyle and Sarah Jessica Parker — described it in a news release as a 'vast and immersive' work that 'enfolds a magical realist fable within a social novel within a love story.'
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