Thien, Morgan, Alderman eye women’s fiction prize
‘Devil’s Triangle’ starts with a bang and never lets up
LONDON, April 4, (AP): Family sagas from China and Kentucky and a sci-fi story of female empowerment are among six finalists for the international Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Madeleine Thien’s Chinese-Canadian journey “Do Not Say We Have Nothing”, C.E. Morgan’s multigenerational Kentucky epic “The Sport of Kings” and Naomi Alderman’s gender role-reversal thriller “The Power” were all on the shortlist announced Monday.
Other contenders for the 30,000-pound ($37,000) prize are Nigerian writer Ayobami Adebayo’s tale of love and loss in 1980s Nigeria, “Stay With Me”; British author Linda Grant’s “The Dark Circle”, set in a tuberculosis sanatorium after World War II; and British novelist Gwendoline Riley’s portrait of a toxic marriage, “First Love”.
Television executive Tessa Ross, who chairs the judging panel, said the shortlist “celebrates narratives that are daring and intimate, that examine the depth of human experience in unique and compelling ways”.
Founded in 1996, the prestigious prize is open to female English-language writers from around the world,
Several of the biggest names on the 16-book
In this file photo dated Oct 24, 2016, writer Madeleine Thien, poses for the media with her book ‘Do Not Say We Have Nothing’ during a photo-call for the 6 shortlisted authors for the
Man Booker Prize for fiction in London. (AP)
longlist failed to make the cut, including Margaret Atwood, Annie Proulx and Mary Gaitskill.
Bookmaker William Hill made Alderman the favorite to win, followed by Adebayo.
“The Devil’s Triangle: a Brit in the FBI Thriller” (Gallery Books), by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison
“The Devil’s Triangle”, the latest book in Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison’s series featuring FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine, starts with a bang and never lets up.
An elusive thief known as the Fox has stolen a valuable artifact from the Topkapi Museum. The artifact is a staff claimed to have been carried by Moses. Her clients are a ruthless brother and sister who hide behind a legitimate archaeological company. They immediately recognize that the staff is a fake and attempt to kill the Fox, but she’s able to slip away. When she arrives back home, she’s shocked to discover that her husband has been abducted and the cost of his rescue is essentially sacrificing her own life.
When the Fox learns of a massive dust storm that’s killing thousands in Beijing, she knows the phenomenon isn’t natural and the brother and sister trying to kill her are directly involved. She calls in Drummond and Caine, who have grappled with her in the past.
Drummond and Caine are team leaders of a new group inside the FBI called Covert Eyes. This mission is a perfect way to see how they work together while uncovering the truth behind a potentially dangerous weapon that can control the weather.
The intensity of the quest to save the Fox while also grappling with her criminal proclivities and a missing husband play well into the story, while Covert Eyes battles hordes of goons with guns and a duo that won’t stop until they have an ancient relic that will grant them unlimited power: the Ark of the Covenant.
The villains could be pulled straight out of a James Bond movie and the heroes are crafted for readers to cheer for in all aspects of their lives, both on and off their FBI jobs. Coulter and Ellison are known for crafting well-told tales of suspense, and when they combine, the end result is dynamite.