Man Booker prize: American short-listed novel outsells rivals

Karen Joy Fowler’s novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, has sold more than three times the rest of the Booker shortlist combined

Fowler's book is considered the most ‘readable’ on the list Photo: Andrew Cowie/REX

By Anita Singh, Arts and Entertainment Editor

The Telegraph 13 Oct 2014

America may not claim the Man Booker Prize, but one of its shortlisted authors is the clear winner where sales are concerned.

Karen Joy Fowler’s novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, has sold more than three times the rest of the Booker shortlist combined.

It has shifted 55,664 copies so far, more than 20,000 of those since the shortlist was announced. Her rivals have sold a combined 16,710 copies, according to latest figures.

This is the first year that US authors, and those from other non-Commonwealth countries, have been eligible for the prize.

Fowler's book is considered the most ‘readable’ on the list, released in paperback in June and packed in many a holiday suitcase. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a family drama with a surprise twist that has floored critics.

Her nearest sales rival is Ali Smith’s How To Be Both, available only in hardback and released more recently, with a mere 4,669 copies sold.

They are followed by Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road To The Deep North (3,566 copies), J: A Novel by Howard Jacobson (3,263 copies), Neel Mukherjee’s The Lives of Others (2,782 copies) and To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris, another American, who has sold 1,775 copies in hardback and a further 655 in paperback.
Mukherjee and Smith are the bookmakers' favourites to take the prize. Howard Jacobson would join a select band who have won the Booker twice if he triumphs, having won in 2010 with The Finkler Question.
The shortlist features British, US and Australian authors. The decision to make the Booker a truly international prize has been welcomed by many but Peter Carey, an Australian and another two-time winner, is among those who disapprove.

"I suppose I’m not generally in love with the notion of global marketing," he said.