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JM Coetzee in the running for Booker hat-trick
South African author is on the shortlist again along with AS Byatt, but the bookies have made Hilary Mantel favourite
The shortlist for the annual Booker prize has been announced with JM Coetzee still on course to become the first author to ever win a hat-trick of Bookers, although he is lagging well behind the runaway favourite Hilary Mantel in the betting stakes.
Coetzee's semi-autobiographical book Summertime is one of six novels chosen by the judging panel to fight it out for the £50,000 first prize. The list also includes one other previous winner - AS Byatt, for The Children's Book.
Coetzee, the South African who now lives in Adelaide, southern Australia, won the prize for The Life and Times of Michael K in 1983 and for Disgrace in 1999. Byatt won the award in 1990 for the novel Possession.
Despite the presence of the two literary heavyweights the overwhelming favourite to win is 57-year-old British author Hillary Mantel for her novel Wolf Hall, set during the reign of Henry VIII.
Her book was described by the chair of the judging panel, James Naughtie, as "a feast… one of the best in the last couple of decades", and the bookies have installed her as the clear favourite to win.
Mantel is 4-5 with William Hill and 10-11 with Ladbroke's - making her the hottest favourite in the competition's 41-year history. Coetzee is joint second favourite with Sarah Waters for The Little Stranger at 5-1. Ladbroke's have Byatt at 6-1.
The other contenders are The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds and The Glass Room by Simon Mawer. Both authors are newcomers and are seen as outsiders with odds of 10-1.
The winner will be named at an awards ceremony in London on October 5. ·
