Booker Prize shortlist announced: A dazzling array of fiction to read now

From the award-winning author of The Story of a Brief Marriage (£7.05, Amazon.co.uk) comes this novel of desire, loss and the legacy of civil war. It follows Krishan's journey from Colombo into Sri Lanka’s war-torn northern province for the funeral of his grandmother’s former caregiver. Exploring themes of communities, individuals and divided cultural identities, the judges called it “quiet by serendipity, possessing its power not on its face, but in hidden, subterranean places”.

Examining a dysfunctional white South African family living on a farm, The Promise is set during four funerals across four decades and exposes the anguish at the centre of the characters’ lives. Galgut cleverly reinvents the role of the narrator here, shifting from traditional narration to directly addressing the reader – sliding between characters and in and out of personae. It’s said to be a convincing and heartfelt novel.

American poet Lockwood tells the story of how one woman’s life is turned upside down when something she posts on social media goes viral. It’s an exciting debut that was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction award.

Equal parts witty and unexpected, No One Is Talking About This covers internet culture and human connection in a wry and intelligent way. Lockwood takes risks while making sure her book retains plenty of warmth and provides insight into human nature.

Based on a real-life case from 1952, The Fortune Man is a masterpiece in storytelling. It tells of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali sailor who is wrongfully convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert and was one of the last men to be executed in Wales. It’s full of rich characters and Mohamed’s ability to examine the blistering racial injustices of the time is sobering and immense. Its a story about the past that has great relevance for the present day.

This novel follows a widowed astrobiologist, Theo Byrne, and his nine-year-old son, Robin, who has a lesser-known health condition. Set in the near future amid Earth’s slow deterioration, it tells the story of what we must do when faced with the need to keep those we love safe.

Shipstead spent seven years writing her third novel, which offers a thrilling story of the life of a fearless female aviator who disappeared in 1950 while attempting a north-to-south circumnavigation of the earth, and an actor who portrays her on screen decades later. It’s a soaring novel that will undoubtedly grip you.

“Absorbing in the manner of the immersive realist novels of the 19th century, the book speaks to ever-present questions about freedom and constraint in womens’ lives,” praised the judges.