The Specsavers National Book Awards showcases the best of British writing & publishing, whilst celebrating books with wide popular appeal, critical acclaim and commercial success.
The awards cover many categories, including children’s and non-fiction. Checkout their website for the full listing of nominees and winners.
Here are the contestants in the popular fiction category:
The Winner!
An Officer and a Spy (M)
by Robert Harris
“Paris, January 1895. Army officer Georges Picquart witnesses a convicted spy, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, being humiliated in front of 20,000 spectators baying ‘Death to the Jew!’ The officer is promoted and put in command of shadowy intelligence unit, the Statistical Section. The spy is shipped off to a lifetime of solitary confinement on Devil’s Island and his case seems closed forever. But gradually Picquart comes to believe there is something rotten at the heart of the Statistical Section.” – publisher
The Other nominees:
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (M)
by Helen Fielding
“When Helen Fielding first wrote Bridget Jones’ Diary, charting the life of a 30-something singleton in London in the 1990s, she introduced readers to one of the most beloved characters in modern literature. With her hotly anticipated third installment, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Fielding introduces us to a whole new enticing phase of Bridget’s life set in contemporary London, including the challenges of maintaining sex appeal as the years roll by and the nightmare of drunken texting, the skinny jean, the disastrous e-mail cc, total lack of twitter followers, and TVs that need 90 buttons and three remotes to simply turn on. An uproariously funny novel of modern life, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is a triumphant return of our favorite Everywoman.” – publisher
Oh Dear Silvia (M)
by Dawn French
“Who is in Coma Suite Number 5? A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife? All of these. For this is Silvia Shute who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops. Her past holds a dark and terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. And she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers. Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again . . .” – publisher
“It’s 1969, and, having just celebrated his forty-fifth birthday, James Bond—British special agent 007—is summoned to headquarters to receive an unusual assignment. Zanzarim, a troubled West African nation, is being ravaged by a bitter civil war, and M directs Bond to quash the rebels threatening the established regime. Bond’s arrival in Africa marks the start of a feverish mission to discover the forces behind this brutal war—and he soon realizes the situation is far from straightforward. Piece by piece, Bond uncovers the real cause of the violence in Zanzarim, revealing a twisting conspiracy that extends further than he ever imagined..” – publisher
The State We’re In (M)
by Adele Parks
“Novel delves straight into the heart of the dilemmas faced in adult life. What are the odds of the person you’re sat next to on a London to Chicago flight being the one who’s going to change your life forever? She’s a soul mate-searching, life-long optimist, he’s a cruel cynic whose past has made him trust no-one. Is their time together on an Atlantic flight all it takes to discover what each of them really needs? And it’s only when they touch down that their journey truly begins… Full of emotion, a tell-it-like-it-is style, thorny issues and real characters, this is Adele Park at her very best.” – publisher
The White Princess (M)
by Philippa Gregory
“Philippa Gregory, #1 New York Times bestselling author and “the queen of royal fiction” presents the latest Cousins’ War novel, the remarkable story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of the White Queen. When Henry Tudor picks up the crown of England from the mud of Bosworth field, he knows he must marry the princess of the enemy house—Elizabeth of York—to unify a country divided by war for nearly two decades. But his bride is still in love with his slain enemy, Richard III—and her mother and half of England dream of a missing heir, sent into the unknown by the White Queen. While the new monarchy can win power, it cannot win hearts in an England that plots for the triumphant return of the House of York.” – publisher
