2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Longlist

Animal

“Much like Taddeo’s Three Women, this novel is not for the prudish or for people who like their women to be silent or demure. If you are looking for originality, sexiness, or fearlessness in your next read, this is the book for you. Grab the reins and be prepared for a ride!”

Shane Mullen, Left Bank Books

A “beautifully written, poignant exploration of family, art, culture, immigration…and love” (Jean Kwok, author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation) set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution that follows a father’s quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughter’s momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell... Read more »

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

On a cold November night, Evelyn Van Pelt steals her roommate’s two underfed and neglected little girls from their beds and drives to the northwestern hometown she fled fourteen years earlier—Cormorant Lake. There, hidden in the mountains and woods, dense with fog and the cold of winter,...