Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland shortlisted for Man Booker 2013

The shortlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize has been announced with Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland making it to the list. When Robert Macfarlane, the chair of this year’s Man Booker Prize judges, announced the long list he called it the most diverse in recent memory. Macfarlane was right, and the same is still true of the shortlist he and his peers have just selected. The winner will be announced on 15 October. [caption id=“attachment_1098511” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Book cover: The Lowland[/caption] Lahiri’s The Lowland, a classic story of family and ideology at odds, is one of the most talked-about books of the busy US Fall publishing season, and is getting a hefty print run. The Lowland is a riveting novel that spans more than four decades in the life of the bhadralok Mitra family. Set in both India and America, it’s a tale of two continents in a time of political tumult. There are examples from novelists from New Zealand, England, Canada, Ireland and Zimbabwe – each with its own highly distinctive taste. They range in size from the 832 pages of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries to the 104-page The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín. Lahiri is the author of three previous works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake and, most recently, Unaccustomed Earth. The author, known to be reclusive, is getting a whole lot of attention and praise for her new novel. The oldest author on the list, Jim Crace, is 67, the youngest (indeed the youngest ever shortlistee), Eleanor Catton, is 28. Here are the 6 books chosen in the shortlist: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus) The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta) The Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador) The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury) A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate) The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (Penguin)