A Social Worker Makes the Booker Long List

by Zoe Strimpel
Thu, 31 Jul 2008 at 9:52 PM

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A 63-year-old social worker from Birmingham has been announced as one of 13 contenders on the long list for the Man Booker Prize, Britain's famous literary honor. It's a satisfying victory for Gaynor Arnold, whose manuscript was initially rejected by publishers and a literary agency. Her debut novel, "Girl in a Blue Dress," is about Charles Dickens's loveless marriage, and the judges are said to have proclaimed on reading it: "Here is somebody who can tell a story." Ms. Arnold may be modest, but she sure is educated, having studied English at Oxford.

Among those she's up against: Salman Rushdie with "The Enchantress of Florence," Linda Grant with "The Clothes on Their Backs," and Amitav Ghosh with "Sea of Poppies."

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