2008 Orange Prize for Fiction

The shortlist for this year's Orange Prize for Fiction has just been announced, with Rose Tremain emerging as the early favourite to scoop the prize.

The Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction is now in its thirteenth year, and this year's strong shortlist suggests that there are more talented women writing than ever before. This year's list is also notable for including three debut novelists: Patricia Wood, Sadie Jones and Heather O'Neill.

The award was set up in 1996, and awards an annual prize of £30,000 to the best work of fiction written by a woman. The prize is international, rewarding novels written in English and published in the UK, but not necessarily by British writers - two of this year's list, Nancy Huston and Heather O'Neill, are Canadian.

Full Shortlist

Fault Lines by Nancy Huston

The Outcast by Sadie Jones

When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill

The Road Home by Rose Tremain

Lottery by Patricia Wood