With the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction announced later this week, you still have time to pick up books from the excellent shortlist. Wondering which one to dive into next? (Or first – we won’t judge!) Just follow our handy reading guide – a lightning quick round-up of our booksellers’ thoughts on the six shortlisted titles.

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini Myriad

Author (and stand-up comedian) Lisa Allen-Agostini’s novel hums with the rhythms of life in Port of Spain and the chatter and cadence of Trinidadian Creole. Propelling this lively energy is the voice of the straight-shooting, book-loving Alethea, a 39-year-old manager of a clothing boutique, who hides the bruises her abusive partner inflicts on her body. Vivid and cinematic in its scope, this is a powerful reminder that change is possible, hope is transformative and women are not defined by the violence they endure.

Our reviewer says:

‘It would be easy to summarise this as a book “about” abuse, but the lasting power of it lies in how Allen- Agostini depicts all the small moments that nourish and enrich a life: the love between true family, connecting with a new friend, even the small pettiness of workplace colleagues. Though the book doesn’t hold back from depicting scenes of extreme darkness, hope is always there, pushing itself up through the soil like a flower bending towards the sun.’

– Jackie Tang, Readings Monthly editor

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

It’s wonderful to see New Zealand author Meg Mason make the shortlist with her phenomenally popular Sorrow and Bliss. Mason’s portrait of a 40-year-old English woman whose life is unravelling is viscerally raw and laugh-out-loud funny in the traditions of Patrick Melrose and Fleabag. There is so much charm in this novel – theprotagonist’s acerbic tongue; her chaotic, bohemian family – but at its heart lies an unflinching yet cathartic admission of how it feels to live with mental illness, and the importance of having understanding and support to heal.

Our reviewer says:

‘Of course it’s going to be made into a movie. Of course it’s running off the shelves. Of course I can’t recommend it highly enough. You want an easy read – this is your jam. You want wit and pathos – open your hands and let me drop this baby into them. You want romance – done. But don’t be misled by the fact that this is an easy read with a romantic bent – it’s skilful writing that’s threaded throughout with Martha’s mental health issues, leavened with a black humour. Really fun, really angry, really real.’

– Gabrielle Williams, manager of the Readings Prizes

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

Sick of the constant chatter on your social media feeds? Try being Benny Oh, whose head is overwhelmed with the voices of inanimate objects around him, all babbling in anger or distress. Benny finds refuge in the silence of the public library, and there a book reaches out to him. Not just any book: his own book. Ruth Ozeki is not just an author, but also a Zen Buddhist priest, and she draws on her beliefs to calmly question how we make room for those who are different and marginalised in society. This is a huge book, all about the epic stories nestled within each small, contained life.

Our reviewer says:

‘The Book of Form and Emptiness is a strange and compelling novel about loss, creativity, difference, and the power of the written word. Ozeki masterfully moves from whimsy to beauty to darkness and back again. I often did not know whether to laugh or to cry (and, admittedly, did both). It is the kind of book you get lost in for days or, considering its length at 550 pages, even weeks. Ozeki’s latest is a challenging, rewarding and unexpected work.’

– Tristen Brudy, Readings Carlton

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

It’s a premise that would send a shiver down any bookseller’s spine: a small independent bookstore is haunted by the shop’s most annoying customer during the pandemic, and Tookie, who landed a job there after years in prison, must find out why. As a bookshop owner herself, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich is perfectly placed to bring this story to life. Come for the mystery and the quotidian pleasures of bookselling, but stay for Erdrich’s panoramic portrayal of the seismic social changes that happened in 2019 and 2020.

Our reviewer says:

‘Tookie possesses a delightfully wry, frank wit that makes each passing “day in the life” achingly relatable, tenderly comical and compulsively readable. Erdrich sticks to her intoxicating blend of reality meets storytelling, educating us while we chuckle along with an in-joke. Though some of its terrors are real, this modern classic is a warmly lit bookshop, inviting you in for a while, out of the bleakness.’

– Clodagh Robinson-watts, Readings Carlton

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

The life of Marian Graves has always been marked by a lust for freedom and danger. In 1950, she embarks on her dream – to fly a Great Circle around the globe. But after a crash landing she finds herself stranded on the Antarctic ice without enough fuel. Half a century later, Hollywood actress Hadley Baxter is drawn to play MarianGraves, a role that will lead her to probe the deepest mysteries of the vanished pilot’s life. Daring adventure, historical detail, hollywood stories – this glorious saga has all you could want from an immersive winter read.

Our reviewer says:

‘Marian and Hadley are defiant women desperate to free themselves from constraints and chart their own courses in life. Both are fearless and determined to form connections and push the social boundaries of their era. This is a wildly exciting story of a female daredevil aviator who refuses to be crushed by society’s expectations. Maggie Shipstead’s writing is superb and Great Circle is an intensely satisfying read.’

– Lou Ryan, Readings Carlton manager

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet in secret at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna’s centre is a fig tree, a witness to their hushed, happy meetings. But when war breaks out, the island is torn apart and the couple vanish. Decades later, one of the teenagers returns – a botanist, looking for a native species – looking, really, for his former love. A spellbinding tapestry that weaves together the history of Cyprus, The Island of Missing Trees is a touching and timely ode to the families, histories and legacies uprooted by war.

Our reviewer says:

‘A story about trauma, how it lives in bodies and is passed down through generations. The novel is written in Elif Shafak’s signature lyrical style – she writes about atrocities in something closer to poetry than prose. This is a heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful work about what divides us and what brings us together.’

– Tristen Brudy, Readings Carlton