The novel Study for Obedience by Montreal novelist Sarah Bernstein is among the six books finalized for the prestigious Booker Prize.
This prize, worth 50,000 pounds sterling ($82,000 CAD), recognizes the best work of fiction written in English and published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Study for Obediencewhich was first published by Granta Books in the United Kingdom and released in Canada last month (by Penguin Random House Canada), explores ideas of prejudice, power dynamics and how History shapes people.
It was Canadian Esi Edugyan, president of this year’s Booker Prize jury, who made the announcement, calling the novel a “meditation on survival” in prose that is at once darkly funny, urgent and beautiful.
Sarah Bernstein, who was born in Montreal and now lives in Scotland, is also on the long list for the Giller Prize, which has a grant of CAN$100,000. Finalists for this award will be announced on October 11 and the award will be presented on November 13.
The Booker Prize will be awarded on November 26.