Penguin UK

The Inheritance of Loss

In the foothills of the Himalayas sits a once grand, now crumbling house home to three people and a dog. There is the retired judge dreaming of colonial yesterdays; his orphaned granddaughter Sai who has fallen for her clever maths tutor; the cook, whose son Biju writes untruthful letters home from New York City; and Mutt, the judge’s beloved dog.

Around the house swirls mountain mist but also the forces of revolution and change. For a new world is clashing with the old, and the future offers both hope and betrayal

2007 Shortlist

Half of a Yellow Sun - 2007 Winner

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Digging To America

Anne Tyler

The Observations

Jane Harris

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

Xiaolu Guo

The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai

Arlington Park

Rachel Cusk

2007 Longlist

THE DISSIDENT

Nell Freudenberger

The Housekeeper

Melanie Wallace

Digging To America

Anne Tyler

Ten Days in the Hills

Jane Smiley

Afterwards

Rachel Seiffert

Careless

Deborah Robertson

The Tenderness of Wolves

Stef Penney

What Was Lost

Catherine O'Flynn

Alligator

Lisa Moore

The Girls

Lori Lansens

Carry Me Down

M.J. Hyland

The Observations

Jane Harris

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

Xiaolu Guo

When to Walk

Rebecca Gowers

Over

Margaret Forster

Peripheral Vision

Patricia Ferguson

The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai

Arlington Park

Rachel Cusk

Poppy Shakespeare

Clare Allan

Half of a Yellow Sun - 2007 Winner

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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

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