(Toronto) The absurd novel by Montreal-born Sarah Bernstein, Study for Obediencelanded a spot on another popular list: finalists for the $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Mme Bernstein is also shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her second novel, which follows an unnamed narrator who moves to a hostile country to become her brother’s housekeeper.
The shortlist of five finalists, announced on Wednesday, also includes Booker winner Eleanor Catton, for Birnam Woodwhich puts guerrilla gardeners in the path of a billionaire who is not as eccentric as he seems.
Kevin Chong was selected for The Double Life of Benson Yua work of metafiction in which a graphic novel author reluctantly confronts his difficult childhood.
The Islands: Stories by Dionne Irving, which explores the lives of Jamaican women and the broader forces that shape them, is the only short story collection to make the shortlist.
CS Richardson’s novel, All The Color in the World on the remarkable life of an artist, completes the selection of finalists.
The Giller Prize, the largest grant for a work of fiction in Canada, will be awarded on November 13.