Wyld up for Authors' Club prize

15.02.10 | Katie Allen in The Bookseller

Last year's John Llewellyn Rhys prize winner Evie Wyld (pic left by Fiona Fletcher) has been shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.

Half of the six-strong list are from Jonathan Cape, with Wyld's After the Fire, A Still Small Voice facing stablemates Jason Donald's Choke Chain and The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn.

The £2,500 prize is awarded to the most promising debut novel issued by a British publisher in the previous year.

The shortlist is selected by a panel of Club members. Chair Suzi Feay said: "We were looking for six novels that were deeply satisfying in their own right, but which also pointed the way to a significant future career."

The winner will be announced on 7th April. Guest adjudicator, novelist Amanda Craig, will select the winner.

The shortlist in full

Choke Chain by Jason Donald (Jonathan Cape)

The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath (Hutchinson)

The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn (Jonathan Cape)

Designs for a Happy Home by Matthew Reynolds (Bloomsbury)

The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan (Canongate)

After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld (Jonathan Cape)