When British novelist Beryl Bainbridge died of cancer in July 2010, many devoted readers mourned her loss. Yet despite her commercial and critical success, Bainbridge never won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, despite being nominated five times. This injustice will now be rectified, as readers have had the chance to vote for The Man Booker Best of Beryl, choosing from her five short listed novels.
The "Booker Bridesmaid"
Bainbridge even earned the nickname "the Booker Bridesmaid" - no other writer has been short listed so many times for the prize without ever winning. These are the five novels that were short listed for the Man Booker Prize and were therefore eligible for the Best of Beryl prize:
The Dressmaker (1973): follows the life of Rita, living in wartime Liverpool and about to embark on a love affair that will shake up her uneventful life beyond recognition.
The Bottle Factory Outing (1974): Bainbridge was nominated again the following year for this dark comedy, inspired by the author's own experiences working in a bottle factory.
An Awfully Big Adventure (1990): famously adapted into a Mike Newell film starring Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant, this heartbreaking story centres around a Liverpool theatre company.
Every Man for Himself (1996): a beautiful, sad novel following the doomed Titanic on its 1912 voyage.
Master Georgie (1998): set during the Crimean War, as Dr George Hardy tries to play his part in the terrible conflict.
Results of the Best of Beryl
Voting has now closed in the online poll, with the result due to be announced on the 19th April 2011. Despite never winning the Man Booker Prize, Bainbridge was awarded a number of prestigious prizes during her career, including the Whitbread Novel of the Year Prize for Every Man for Himself, the Whitbread Prize for Injury Time, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Master Georgie and the Guardian Fiction Prize for The Dressmaker.
However, the general feeling amongst her army of fans is that Bainbridge never really received the literary recognition she deserved and many readers will agree with Ion Trewin, Literary Director of the Man Booker Prizes, when he comments, "Dame Beryl was a very gracious non-winner and no Man Booker dinner was really complete without her. She was the eternal Booker Bridesmaid but, with this special prize created in her honour, we're delighted to be able to finally crown her a Booker Bride by letting the public choose the favourite of her books."
Elizabeth Gregory - Liz graduated from Manchester University with a BA (Hons) in English Language & Literature, and also holds an MA in Literature from the ...
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