Rt. Hon Ben Bradshaw MP for Exeter and former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said: “I’m delighted that the Exeter Novel Prize is now an established part of our city’s cultural calendar and the fact that winners have gone on to be published is testament to its growing reputation.”
The 2017 Exeter Novel Prize Award Ceremony
First Prize - £500 plus trophy. The First Prize is generously donated by Exeter Writers
Five finalists will each receive £75 plus a trophy.
Five finalists will each receive £75 plus a trophy.
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We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2017 Exeter Novel Prize is E J Pepper with her wonderful novel Mr Whittaker.
The award ceremony took place at the historic library in the Devon and Exeter Institution. Our thanks to them for the excellent venue. We heard from Briony Collins, last year's winner, who has since received a prestigious Literature Wales Bursary. Then, in front of a full house, we heard the first page of the shortlisted novels followed by an appraisal of each one by our esteemed judge, Broo Doherty of DHH Agency. The moment had arrived for a decision, and it was a stunned Jo Pepper who received the trophy. Huge congratulations! Commiserations to our finalists, but it has been an amazing year and Broo was effusive in her praise for all those listed. Her report on each of the shortlisted novels and photos of the event are below. Thanks to Jo Cole for the photographs. Click to enlarge.
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Jo Pepper - winner of the 2017 Exeter Novel Prize
Short List
Cowboy Code – Louella Bryant – (US) Mr Whittaker – E.J. Pepper (Godalming) Thaw – Louise Farr (Co Down) The Leopard’s Daughter – Sarah Hegarty (Guildford) The Trauma Pool – John Kennedy (Durham) Wedding Stakes – Lucy Flannery (Havant) Long List
A Pregnant Pause – Judy Perry (Dorking) Blue – Emma Albrighton (Eastleigh) God's Will and the Yellow Dress – Michelle Shine (London) Burning Weather – Ashley Weckbacher (US) Dwaal – Andrew Dawson – (Poland) Honeysuckle – Hazel Barkworth (Surrey) Girl in the Castle – Lizzie Lamb (Leicester) Kololo Hill – Neema Shah (London) Locusts – Lorna Riley (Macclesfield) Lords of Eden: The White King – Piers Karpinski (London) Spy act - Keri Culver (Madrid) That Summer – Jennifer Harvey (Amsterdam) The Affairs of Gentle Things – Carol Berrington (Stratford-upon-Avon) The Cygnet Thieves – Jane Burke (London) The Devil’s Own Time – Jago Piran (Bristol) The Empty Frame – Denise Naniche – (Spain) The Ice Window - Catherine Ogston (Scotland) The Weight of Stones – Ruby Speechly (Bedford) Until Guilty – Deborah Bailey (Nottingham) |
Notes on the six shortlisted novels - Broo Doherty
Mr Whittaker - Jo Pepper (Winner)
Set in the UK at the start of this century, Mr Whittake explores the effect that an accusation of sexual assault has on a couple and their children, and it highlights the question – how well do we ever really know someone?
Sixty two year old Miles Whittaker is accused of bullying an adolescent at a minor public school, and as a result he and his wife are asked to leave while the school board follow the usual protocol to ascertain the truth. Miles, an old school teacher, is infuriated, and finds adapting to his new life in a small house in North London almost impossible, while his wife Sophie tries to figure out what exactly has happened. She is worried about the effect this will have on her immediate family – twin girls now at university – and their close knit circle of friends.
Sensitively written and highly topical, this is a brilliant portrayal of two worlds colliding, and the far reaching effects this type of accusation can have. As Miles buries his head in the sand, it is up to Sophie to hold the family together, while she questions just how well she knows her husband of thirty years’ standing.
Cowboy Code - Louella Bryant
Fourteen year old Bobbie Grey’s father has been killed in an accident at the local paper factory near Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. On the brink of the bread line, her mother decides to take a job at the paper factory in a desperate attempt to keep the family together. The novel traces how the family survives.
Told in the first person by Bobbie, this is a moving and heartfelt book. Bobbie’s ethical code is based on the Cowboy Code, because she is obsessed by Westerns and Gene Autry in particular. This was a bond that existed between her and her father. The attention to detail is superb, and the author has captured that wonderful nostalgic spirit so that we feel the heat from the desert, and the tension that exists within the local community. In time, as Bobbie comes to terms with her father’s death, she gradually learns that whatever life throws at you, love transcends gender, race and faith.
Thaw - Louise Farr
Can a person ever be brought back to life? Is the thrust of this novel, written from the viewpoint of Dorothy Rose Grace Indiana Winters, a young, fifteen year old who is dying from cancer, but is determined not to die without a fight. Dorrie has an Attitude Problem. As a teenage she is aware that she will never pass her driving test, never travel to India, or have sex - all of which is disappointing, but she has come up with a cunning plan: she wants to be frozen and allowed to have a second chance at life in the future. She’s done the research, knows all about cryogenics and the novel opens with her moving letter to a Judge asking him to allow her to be frozen on death. The novel then jumps to 2067 where we join Dorrie as she wakes up and is transferred to an adolescent unit known, much to her fury as Snowdrop. This is a humorous but thought provoking novel, written with tremendous immediacy, reminiscent in tone to Matthew Crow’s In Bloom.
The Leopard’s Daughter - Sarah Hegarty
Lucas, a white adventurer, works in Karolina, a diamond mine in Congo Free State. Which is in fact a prison. He was incarcerated for killing a Belgian soldier who was beating a Congolese girl. Lucas has survived by working as an informant for the mine overseer, Duval, but when his information causes the death of his friend, TKELE, he escapes, hiding a gem in his mouth.
On the run, Lucas is found by Suli, who realises that he used to work with her husband, and she helps nurture him back to health using local herbs. They form a friendship, and decide that they should both start a new life elsewhere – but when Suli discovers that Lucas was allegedly responsible for her husband’s death they separate and Suli endeavours to start a new life on her own.
Duval makes an appearance and he eventually reveals to Suli that Lucas had nothing to do with her husband’s death. Suli and Lucas are reconciled but Suli realised that she needs to be alone…
This is a beautifully written novel about identity, forgiveness and coming to terms with the past told in a dual narrative by Lucas and Suli. The atmosphere is superb, the tension of colonial Africa is captured convincingly, and the fragile love story between Lucas and Suli is emotionally charged. It is a fascinating read.
The Trauma Pool - John Kennedy
A police procedural set in the North of England in the 1980s.
Will Ashford has been relocated from London to the Yorkshire moors after a traumatic case in London. He isn’t greeted with much enthusiasm by the others on his team except for Samira Brown, another outsider, a black DI who has been relocated from Manchester. The two of them are determined to solve an unlikely case – that of the murder of a woodwork teacher Peter Smiles, who is discovered dead on the remains of a coal mine.
Their investigation leads them back to the school where Peter used to teach, and gradually uncovers the fact that he is not quite the benign teacher that they had imagined, and his past has involved abuse and bullying of young children in his care.
Page turning and atmospheric this is a classic police procedural written with a great eye for detail. The atmosphere in the police station among the officers is incredibly well captured, and the ingrained attitudes beautifully portrayed. It is full of twists and turns, and ultimately reaches a satisfying ending, with good conquering all.
Wedding Stakes - Lucy Flannery
An outlandish and incredibly funny look at how a wedding impacts on a close knit family. Bridesilla Ellie is about to marry Ned, the ultimate yes man, and she has banned all children from her wedding- the reason being that one of her cousins is downs syndrome and she feels that she will ruin all the pictures of the perfect day. And from that moment on, everyone has an opinion. Ellie will stop at nothing to achieve her dream. Told from various different perspectives – Ellie;s mother Pauline, her aunty Jen and her cousin Lou, the story unravels with immediacy, humour and absolute horror. I loved the colloquial style, the intimacy of the developing narrative and the ultimate resolution – that Ellie isn’t all bad, she feels inadequate and believes this is her one opportunity in life to shine. Tragic, humorous and ultimately a feel good novel, I can see this making a terrific film – along the lines of Muriel’s Wedding. It is difficult to ensure that each voice is sufficiently individual but the author pulls it off and it is a gripping novel that exposes the universality of family tensions in a tender and authentic way.
Mr Whittaker - Jo Pepper (Winner)
Set in the UK at the start of this century, Mr Whittake explores the effect that an accusation of sexual assault has on a couple and their children, and it highlights the question – how well do we ever really know someone?
Sixty two year old Miles Whittaker is accused of bullying an adolescent at a minor public school, and as a result he and his wife are asked to leave while the school board follow the usual protocol to ascertain the truth. Miles, an old school teacher, is infuriated, and finds adapting to his new life in a small house in North London almost impossible, while his wife Sophie tries to figure out what exactly has happened. She is worried about the effect this will have on her immediate family – twin girls now at university – and their close knit circle of friends.
Sensitively written and highly topical, this is a brilliant portrayal of two worlds colliding, and the far reaching effects this type of accusation can have. As Miles buries his head in the sand, it is up to Sophie to hold the family together, while she questions just how well she knows her husband of thirty years’ standing.
Cowboy Code - Louella Bryant
Fourteen year old Bobbie Grey’s father has been killed in an accident at the local paper factory near Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. On the brink of the bread line, her mother decides to take a job at the paper factory in a desperate attempt to keep the family together. The novel traces how the family survives.
Told in the first person by Bobbie, this is a moving and heartfelt book. Bobbie’s ethical code is based on the Cowboy Code, because she is obsessed by Westerns and Gene Autry in particular. This was a bond that existed between her and her father. The attention to detail is superb, and the author has captured that wonderful nostalgic spirit so that we feel the heat from the desert, and the tension that exists within the local community. In time, as Bobbie comes to terms with her father’s death, she gradually learns that whatever life throws at you, love transcends gender, race and faith.
Thaw - Louise Farr
Can a person ever be brought back to life? Is the thrust of this novel, written from the viewpoint of Dorothy Rose Grace Indiana Winters, a young, fifteen year old who is dying from cancer, but is determined not to die without a fight. Dorrie has an Attitude Problem. As a teenage she is aware that she will never pass her driving test, never travel to India, or have sex - all of which is disappointing, but she has come up with a cunning plan: she wants to be frozen and allowed to have a second chance at life in the future. She’s done the research, knows all about cryogenics and the novel opens with her moving letter to a Judge asking him to allow her to be frozen on death. The novel then jumps to 2067 where we join Dorrie as she wakes up and is transferred to an adolescent unit known, much to her fury as Snowdrop. This is a humorous but thought provoking novel, written with tremendous immediacy, reminiscent in tone to Matthew Crow’s In Bloom.
The Leopard’s Daughter - Sarah Hegarty
Lucas, a white adventurer, works in Karolina, a diamond mine in Congo Free State. Which is in fact a prison. He was incarcerated for killing a Belgian soldier who was beating a Congolese girl. Lucas has survived by working as an informant for the mine overseer, Duval, but when his information causes the death of his friend, TKELE, he escapes, hiding a gem in his mouth.
On the run, Lucas is found by Suli, who realises that he used to work with her husband, and she helps nurture him back to health using local herbs. They form a friendship, and decide that they should both start a new life elsewhere – but when Suli discovers that Lucas was allegedly responsible for her husband’s death they separate and Suli endeavours to start a new life on her own.
Duval makes an appearance and he eventually reveals to Suli that Lucas had nothing to do with her husband’s death. Suli and Lucas are reconciled but Suli realised that she needs to be alone…
This is a beautifully written novel about identity, forgiveness and coming to terms with the past told in a dual narrative by Lucas and Suli. The atmosphere is superb, the tension of colonial Africa is captured convincingly, and the fragile love story between Lucas and Suli is emotionally charged. It is a fascinating read.
The Trauma Pool - John Kennedy
A police procedural set in the North of England in the 1980s.
Will Ashford has been relocated from London to the Yorkshire moors after a traumatic case in London. He isn’t greeted with much enthusiasm by the others on his team except for Samira Brown, another outsider, a black DI who has been relocated from Manchester. The two of them are determined to solve an unlikely case – that of the murder of a woodwork teacher Peter Smiles, who is discovered dead on the remains of a coal mine.
Their investigation leads them back to the school where Peter used to teach, and gradually uncovers the fact that he is not quite the benign teacher that they had imagined, and his past has involved abuse and bullying of young children in his care.
Page turning and atmospheric this is a classic police procedural written with a great eye for detail. The atmosphere in the police station among the officers is incredibly well captured, and the ingrained attitudes beautifully portrayed. It is full of twists and turns, and ultimately reaches a satisfying ending, with good conquering all.
Wedding Stakes - Lucy Flannery
An outlandish and incredibly funny look at how a wedding impacts on a close knit family. Bridesilla Ellie is about to marry Ned, the ultimate yes man, and she has banned all children from her wedding- the reason being that one of her cousins is downs syndrome and she feels that she will ruin all the pictures of the perfect day. And from that moment on, everyone has an opinion. Ellie will stop at nothing to achieve her dream. Told from various different perspectives – Ellie;s mother Pauline, her aunty Jen and her cousin Lou, the story unravels with immediacy, humour and absolute horror. I loved the colloquial style, the intimacy of the developing narrative and the ultimate resolution – that Ellie isn’t all bad, she feels inadequate and believes this is her one opportunity in life to shine. Tragic, humorous and ultimately a feel good novel, I can see this making a terrific film – along the lines of Muriel’s Wedding. It is difficult to ensure that each voice is sufficiently individual but the author pulls it off and it is a gripping novel that exposes the universality of family tensions in a tender and authentic way.
The competition is for the first ten thousand words including synopsis of a novel that has not been accepted for publication by a traditional publishing house. It is open to all authors who are currently without representation by a literary agent, whether or not they have been published. Self published novels are eligible.
You can read about the previous award ceremonies and the judge's reports. Click HERE for 2013, HERE for 2014, HERE for 2015 and HERE for 2016.
