Miles Franklin Award Longlist 2008

Longlist Selections for Australia’s Most Significant Literary Award

Mar 13, 2008

Nine longlist finalists of Australia's most prestigious literary award have been announced, showcasing the best of contemporary Australian fiction.

From 59 submissions for this year’s Award, the following have been selected by the judges:

Max Otto, an elderly German academic is challenged by Vita McClelland, a young Australian Aboriginal academic visiting Germany.

Max travels to Australia and his friendship with Vita and uncle, an Aboriginal elder, give him new purpose and teach him to reconcile his own personal and national history.

An elderly woman struggles with the effects of depression after a tragedy. Found living in squalid conditions, she is committed to a rural insane asylum.

Facing brutal conditions inside the asylum, she holds on to her most precious memories to help her to maintain her sanity and her connection with what is important.

Gifted mathematician Leela is drawn to an Australian violinist playing in the Boston subway.

After an explosion in the subway, Leela is called in for questioning and is confronted with reports that her lover is connected to a terrorist group. She must search for the truth and discover whether she can trust the man she loves.

Sent to England from his rural Tasmanian home at the age of 11 due to a family tragedy, Alex Dove must return 12 years later to deal with his inheritance.

Drawn to the Tasmanian countryside, he meets and marries a young woman who shares his history of personal tragedy. They lead an uncomplicated life until they invite a teenage castaway into their home, threatening their happiness but opening the opportunity for a more fulfilling life.

Living in remote Western Australia, young Perdita, the only child of two emotionally unavailable British parents, forms strong friendships with a deaf mute boy and a local Aboriginal girl.

In the aftermath of a terrible event that shakes Perdita’s world, Sorry considers the value of friendship, loyalty and sacrifice.

Benedict Waters is beguiled by the storytelling of an elderly family friend. It takes some time before he realises that the stories that so fascinate and compel him are those of his own family and that it is his own life that is slowly unravelling.

In a kaleidoscope of personalities, emotions and events, The Fern Tattoo invites the reader to consider the nature of love and fate.

The lives of three friends are intertwined in this examination of the nature of secrecy.

Exploring the world of international espionage, diplomacy and media, The Memory Room is both a thriller and a study of the mind of a gifted but flawed secret service agent.

Set in Melbourne in the 1970s, The Time We Have Taken explores the nature of suburban life and history.

As residents prepare to celebrate their suburb’s 100 year anniversary, the central characters are led to a public and private reckoning of their lives and the rhythms of change.

The Widow and Her Hero is the emotional journey of Grace, a woman who lost her husband during World War II.

Sixty years later, as the real story of his disappearance and the subsequent cover-up are revealed, Grace must reconcile the truth and betrayal with the tragedy she has carried with her for most of her life.

The copyright of the article Miles Franklin Award Longlist 2008 in Australian Literature is owned by Susan Whelan. Permission to republish Miles Franklin Award Longlist 2008 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.