Jane in running for fiction prize

Photo: Laurie Harris

AUTHOR Jane Rogers, on the longlist for the Man Booker Prize

A LECTURER from Mossley is in with a chance of winning the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction with a book that was almost never published.

Jane Rogers, professor of creative writing at Sheffield Hallam University has been included on the prize’s longlist of 13 for her novel “The Testament of Jessie Lamb”.

The novel, Jane’s eighth, was turned down by a number of mainstream publishers. It has been published by a small Scottish independent, Sandstone Press.

Jane said: “This longlist is a real vindication for indy publishers. Three of the novels on it are from independents, who are supporting serious writers and taking risks while the bigger houses are playing it safe.”

“The Testament of Jessie Lamb” portrays a near-future world in which pregnant women are dying of an incurable disease.

It follows teenager Jessie Lamb and her determination to make her life count for something in a world irreparably altered by an act of biological terrorism.

The 13 titles on the Man Booker longlist were chosen by a panel of judges from a total of 138 books. Jane was previously longlisted in 1991 for her novel “Mr Wroe’s Virgins”.

A shortlist of six authors will be announced next month, while the winner will be announced in October.

The winner will receive £50,000 and each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, will receive £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their book.

Jane said: “With this novel, I wanted to explore that moment when the power shifts and a teenager becomes independent from her parents.

“Jessie is an ordinary girl living in extraordinary times; as her world collapses, her idealism and courage drive her towards the ultimate act of heroism.

“But her parents, who still see her as a foolishly impressionable child, are determined to try and protect her from herself.”

Dame Stella Rimington, the chairman of judges and former director-general of MI5, said: “‘We are delighted by the quality and breadth of our longlist, which emerged from an impassioned discussion. The list ranges from the Wild West to multi-ethnic London via post-Cold War Moscow and Bucharest, and includes four first novels.”