Sarah Waters, Author of Fingersmith, is 2-1 favorite to receive heavy weight book award

It was announced yesterday that Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith (see picture), is a heavy favorite to win the Booker Prize, one of the world's top book awards for her latest efforts, The Night Watch.

Here is the news story from Reuters:


U.K. writer Waters leads shock Booker shortlist
By Paul Majendie Thu Sep 14, 12:43 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - British author Sarah Waters was installed on Thursday as 2-1 favorite for the Booker Prize after judges left a string of literary heavyweights off the shortlist for one of the world's top book awards.
"We have argued hard and well," said chairwoman Hermione Lee after the judges surprised critics by leaving out previous winners Peter Carey and Barry Unsworth and the early favorite David Mitchell.
Bookmakers made Waters favorite to land the 50,000-pound ($94,000) prize for "The Night Watch," her tale of post-war Britain.
"It tears the underwear off London," said one of the judges, actress
Fiona Shaw' Second favorite at 3-1 with bookmakers William Hill was English writer Edward St Aubyn for "Mother's Milk," about the entanglements of a once illustrious family.
The eclectic list was completed by Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss," Kate Grenville's "The Secret River," M.J. Hyland's "Carry Me Down" and Hisham Matar's "In The Country of Men."
"The subjects range from histories of colonialism in India, English convicts in Australia, Gaddafi's repressive regime and London in the blitz to the most intimate stories of family life," Lee said.
Highlighting how international the list was for the 2006 prize, she said: "There are four women and two men. They include an Indian writer (Desai) who has lived in America and England, an Australian (Grenville), an Irishwoman (Hyland) and a Libyan-born Egyptian (Matar) now living in England."
She said the sextet on the shortlist offered "a distinctive, original voice and audacious imagination that takes readers to undiscovered countries of the mind, a strong power of story telling and a historical truthfulness."
The shortlist for the prize, founded in 1969, was chosen from an original entry of 112 books. The award guarantees the winner instant literary fame and a place in bestseller lists around the globe.
Last year's winner, "The Sea" by Irish writer John Banville," has since sold 500,000 copies and boosted sales of his previous novels.
The award invariably causes controversy, with critics saying the winners are often turgid tomes that appeal only to literary academics.
The winner of the prize, sponsored by the futures brokers Man Group, will be announced on October 10.

I hope you are enjoying Sarah Waters writing as much as the critics do.
-Jen