Toibin tome makes Booker Prize shortlist

A novel by Irish author Colm Toibin has made the final Man Booker Prize shortlist.

"The Testament of Mary" is one of six books on the list which has just been announced in London.

The Colm Toibin work is the only Irish book to make the shortlist.

Toibin’s book features the mother of Jesus mourning angrily years after her son’s crucifixion.

Drum roll please! We are thrilled to announce that the six novels shortlisted for the 2013 #ManBookerPrize ... https://t.co/6wAadxtd9T

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) September 10, 2013

The writer is one of six in the running for the £50,000 prize, which was won last year by Hilary Mantel.

The other shortlisted authors are Jim Crace (Harvest), Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries), Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland), NoViolet Bulawayo (We Need New Names) and Ruth Ozeki (A Tale For The Time Being).

The winner is announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, October 15.

A spokesman for booksellers Waterstones said: "With a multicultural shortlist dominated by women I think the bookies may be wrong this time.

“It’s five years since the last ’surprise’ winner – The White Tiger – and I think this shortlist gives the judges a lot of options.

“The question of ’what is a novel?’ is raised again with Colm Toibin’s The Testament of Mary – at 101 pages it makes Julian Barnes’ 160 page The Sense of an Ending look, if not like War and Peace, then at least Crime and Punishment.

“This is an impossibly tough year to call, but I will be placing a small bet on Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being: I think it shares some of the spirit of Life of Pi that was such a memorable winner in 2002, and I think it might be time for another surprise.”