Booker Prize 2026: The Shortlist, Reviewed

The 2026 Booker Prize shortlist of six was announced on 22 September, narrowed down from the 13-book longlist announced 28 July. The winner will be named on 9 November. I'd already read and reviewed every book that made the cut — here's how they fared, plus the rest of the longlist.

The shortlist

• The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
  My favorite of the first batch — a quietly devastating look at secrets and second chances.
• Black Bag by Luke Kennard — 4/5
  An absurdist stand-out — the first of the longlist I've genuinely loved.
• May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry — 4/5
  The best of the list so far — and it made the shortlist, as it deserved.
• The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
  The list's sci-fi pick, but its undefined alien-invasion premise never came together for me.
• The Disappearers by Marlon James
  DNF'd despite the hype — the patois and the violence were more than I could push through.
• John of John by Douglas Stuart
  A quietly devastating father-son story with an unlikable father — hard to read, but the ending earns it.

Also on the longlist

• Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
  A slim, stylistically risky novella that didn't land for me.
• The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
  A plot-light slice-of-life novel that just wasn't for me.
• The Renovation by Kenan Orhan
  A magical-realist family drama with real emotional weight, though the literal Italy-Turkey portal didn't work for me.
• All Them Dogs by Djamel White
  An Irish gangster tale that left me mostly neutral, with a strong enough finish to tip me toward liking it.
• The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams
  DNF'd about 30% in — never found the spooky, supernatural hook I was expecting.
• The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis
• Switzy by Emma Cline