Following up on her recent Pulitzer Prize win, Barbara Kingsolver adds to her burgeoning trophy collection with this year’s Women’s Prize for the David Copperfield-inspired novel Demon Copperhead. The 68-year-old author, is the first two-time recipient of the coveted award, having won in 2010 for The Lacuna.

Kingsolver's tale of perseverance and survival follows a plucky boy born to a single mother amid the poverty and trailer parks of the southern Appalachia region, which the author also calls home. Chair of judges Louise Minchin hailed Kingsolver’s prize-winning epic at an announcement ceremony in London, “Brilliant and visceral, it is storytelling by an author at the top of her game. We were all deeply moved by Demon, his gentle optimism, resilience and determination despite everything being set against him.”

​​The prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction is awarded annually to a female author for the best novel in English published in the UK the preceding year. Kingsolver edged out a talented field of 6 finalists, including Louise Kennedy (Trespasses) and Maggie O'Farrell (The Marriage Portrait).

The Winner

Demon Copperhead 

By Barbara Kingsolver

The Shortlist

Fire Rush 

By Jacqueline Crooks

Pod 

By Laline Paull

The Marriage Portrait

By Maggie O’Farrell

Trespasses 

By Louise Kennedy 

Black Butterflies 

By Priscilla Morris (Not Yet Available on Tertulia)

The Longlist

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

Homesick by Jennifer Croft

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel | Preorder for 9/5 Release in the U.S.

Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova (Not Yet Available on Tertulia)