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Results of the 2007 Betty Bolingbroke-Kent Award (Novel) |
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(the final judging by Penny Deacon, crime writer; author of 'A Kind of Puritan' and 'A Thankless Child'.)
The total number of entries for this category was 178. Results are as follows:
First Prize
| Rachel Moses |
Razzi Bazzi Bazaar |
UK |
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Penny Deacon comments: This is a winner for me because of its confident writing and individual voice. There is an emotional depth to the main character, Daisy, which made me want to know what happens to her. She is vulnerable and appealing without being weak or sentimental. I also loved the author’s ability to use the small details which create a cultural divide. The writer has an acute sense of place and the ability to show this without a heavy burden of description, and without any resort to stereotypes. The writer’s willingness to use a range of tone and colour, from the seriousness of grief and growing up to the comedy of communication failures is admirable. This assured opening convinced me that there was a real story waiting to be told which would require the full length of a novel for its exploration.
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Rachel tells us that she grew up in various vicarages in the Midlands and South-east of England and, after working in Pakistan and London for several years, now lives in a market town near the Yorkshire Dales.
She works part time with pupils with learning disabilities and when not writing loves digging her allotment and walking in the hills near her home. She began Razzi Bazzi Bazaar seven years ago when her daughters started school. It is her first novel. She is working on a collection of short stories; one story, ‘The Birthday Party’ was published in an anthology this year.
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Second Prize
| Alun Williams |
Tales from a City Asylum |
UK |
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Penny Deacon comments: The synopsis for this novel led me to expect self-indulgence and I was both delighted and surprised by the quality of the writing I actually found. There is a mix of humour and pathos and a very real sense of the individuality of the narrator. The use of domestic details (not just the music) anchor a story, which could have wallowed in whimsy, in a very real time and place in America. Concrete details, a lack of ornamentation and over-writing, engage the reader and made me care about what would happen to the narrator. I finished this opening feeling confident that the writer would handle the complex series of relationships suggested in the synopsis with sympathy and wit.
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Alun tells us that he is 52 and lives in North Wales. He has 6 children (not much to do here!) although only one is left at home, and also 1 grandchild. Most of his writing has been on Internet forums such as East of the Web, Zoetrope and Critters Bar (which he strongly recommends where new members are always welcome: check it out at www.crittersbar.com). He has had several shorts published in Cambrensis, Bonfire, The Write Side Up and Secret Attic. He loves the stories of Charles Bukowski and also Salinger and Raymond Chandler. He recently came second in the Kings Lynn Writing Competition with "Postcard from Cairo". He will now put some effort into finishing "Tales from a City Asylum".
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Third Prize
| RV Jones |
The Bella Archipelago |
UK |
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Penny Deacon comments: The central idea behind this story is a delightful and subversive concept. It is inventive and original and shows a sharp insight into the language and structures of a certain sort of popular women’s fiction. I laughed aloud at some of its absurdities. The tone of the writing made it very readable but eventually it becomes a little predictable in its knowingness. Perhaps the story should reach the level of political satire more quickly – as it stands the idea does not have enough depth to sustain a full-length novel.
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Highly Commended
| David Evans |
Something Forbidden |
UK |
| Jackie Gingell |
EEE EYE ADDYEO |
UK |
| Jessica Gordon |
The Geometry of Heaven |
UK |
| Tanya Gupta |
The Amaryllis Season |
UK |
| Chris Hill |
The Longing |
UK |
Commended
| Kathryn Allen |
The Salt Factory |
UK |
| Donald P.H. Eaton |
Faith |
USA |
| Lily Garth |
The Company of Blondes |
UK |
| Penelope Gingell |
Amor |
UK |
| Sara Jane Green |
A Tale of Two Sisters |
Australia |
| Janet Hancock |
The Door of Darkness |
UK |
| Helen Kitson |
Bad Blood |
UK |
| Angela Lett |
The Keepsake |
UK |
| Lorraine Mace |
Bad Moon Rising |
France |
| David Manderson |
Lost Bodies |
UK |