Fiction
WINNER! The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven GallowayAfter watching 22 of his fellow residents, who were waiting in line for bread, die from a bomb explosion, a cellist vows to play for 22 days straight at the site where he witnessed the tragedy. Meanwhile, a young sniper protects the cellist's life with her own. A beautifully crafted novel that is at turns devastating and life-affirming, Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo is a lyrical lament for a dying city.  Excerpt Other 2008 OV Winners |  Dear American Airlines by Jonathan MilesWhat starts out as a rant to a corporation ends up as a frank, darkly funny look back through the years in Jonathan Miles's debut novel. On his way to his estranged daughter's wedding, antihero Bennie Ford—a multiply divorced, middle-aged failed poet who lives with his mother—gets stuck at O'Hare. When it's clear he won't make the wedding, he demands a refund in a letter that can't contain itself. Excerpt |
 The Good Thief by Hannah TintiAwash in characters both colorful and shady, gothic twists, mystery, and grave-robbing, Hannah Tinti's debut novel is a Dickensesque escapade set in 19th-century New England. Twelve-year-old orphan Ren has no idea who his family is, or how he lost his left hand. One day, a roguish stranger shows up, claiming to be his brother and taking Ren from the orphanage. And so begins an adventure. Excerpt |  The White Tiger by Aravind AdigaYou'll want to set aside your expectations for Indian prose before you pick up The White Tiger. Instead of lyrical, Aravind Adiga gives you blunt, using the voice of the maligned and marginalized Balram Halwai to illuminate the ever-present class struggle. A brute of a tale that gives the reader little mercy, Adiga's debut novel places him front and center on the Indian literary scene. Excerpt |
 The Somnambulist by Jonathan BarnesJonathan Barnes's debut novel is a fantastical romp through protagonist Edward Moon's Victorian London. It's a detective novel with plenty of magic and mystery, an 8-foot mute with unexplainable powers, and even a healthy dose of deformed prostitutes, for whom Moon has developed a predilection. At turns dark and disturbingly funny, the novel establishes Barnes as an author of the wonderfully weird. |  The Lace Reader by Brunonia BarryLike the lace that features prominently in it, this ambitious debut novel, woven with page-turning plot twists and revelations, is a striking piece of work constructed from the interplay of separate threads. After 15 years away, Towner Whitney returns to Salem from California when she learns her great-aunt Eva has disappeared. In Towner's story, author Brunonia Barry plumbs the magical idiosyncrasies of three generations of women, and of their hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. Read an Excerpt, Learn How to Read Lace, and More |
See All the 2008 Winners & Finalists
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