Random House

Strange Music

Richly complex, Strange Music recreates the lives of three women — the poet Elizabeth Barrett in England, and in Jamaica on the Barrett estate, there is Kaydia, a maidservant and Sheba, an indentured labourer. All three women struggle to escape a tragic but ever-present past.

2009 Shortlist

Burnt Shadows

Kamila Shamsie

Home - 2009 Winner

Marilynne Robinson

The Invention of Everything Else

Samantha Hunt

The Wilderness

Samantha Harvey

Scottsboro

Ellen Feldman

Molly Fox's Birthday

Deirdre Madden

2009 Longlist

The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

Ann Weisgarber

The Flying Troutmans

Miriam Toews

American Wife

Curtis Sittenfeld

Burnt Shadows

Kamila Shamsie

Evening Is the Whole Day

Preeta Samarasan

Home - 2009 Winner

Marilynne Robinson

The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight

Gina Ochsner

The Lost Dog

Michelle De Kretser

The Invention of Everything Else

Samantha Hunt

The Wilderness

Samantha Harvey

Intuition

Allegra Goodman

Love Marriage

V Ganeshananthan

Strange Music

Laura Fish

Scottsboro

Ellen Feldman

Blonde Roots

Bernardine Evaristo

Their Finest Hour And A Half

Lissa Evans

Girl in a Blue Dress

Gaynor Arnold

The Household Guide to Dying

Debra Adelaide

A Mercy

Toni Morrison

Molly Fox's Birthday

Deirdre Madden

Previous winners

2023

Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver

2022

The Book of Form and Emptiness

Ruth Ozeki

2021

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

2020

Hamnet

Maggie O'Farrell

2019

An American Marriage - 2019 Winner

Tayari Jones

2018

Home Fire - 2018 Winner

Kamila Shamsie

2017

The Power - 2017 Winner

Naomi Alderman

2016

The Glorious Heresies - 2016 Winner

Lisa McInerney

2015

How to be Both - 2015 Winner

Ali Smith

2014

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing - 2014 Winner

Eimear McBride

2013

May We Be Forgiven - 2013 Winner

A.M. Homes

2012

The Song of Achilles - 2012 Winner

Madeline Miller

2011

The Tiger's Wife - 2011 Winner

Téa Obreht

2010

The Lacuna - 2010 Winner

Barbara Kingsolver

2009

Home - 2009 Winner

Marilynne Robinson

2008

The Road Home - 2008 Winner

Rose Tremain

2007

Half of a Yellow Sun - 2007 Winner

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2006

On Beauty - 2006 Winner

2005

We Need to Talk About Kevin - 2005 Winner

Lionel Shriver

2004

Small Island

Andrea Levy

2003

Property - 2003 Winner

Valerie Martin

2002

Bel Canto - 2002 Winner

Ann Patchett

2001

The Idea of Perfection - 2001 Winner

Kate Grenville

2000

When I Lived in Modern Times - 2000 Winner

Linda Grant

1999

A Crime in the Neighborhood - 1999 Winner

Suzanne Berne

1998

Larry’s Party - 1998 Winner

Carol Shields

1997

Fugitive Pieces - 1997 Winner

Anne Michaels

1996

A Spell of Winter - 1996 Winner

Helen Dunmore

The Women's Prize Podcast

Tune into host Vick Hope and a line-up of incredible guests on our weekly podcast full of unmissable book recommendations.