LONDON: An environmental epic that has been likened to Moby Dick for trees, the story of an escaped slave and a powerful debut by a 27-year-old novelist are among favourites to win the Man Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday.

American writer Richard Powers’ arboreal novel The Overstory, Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black about a slave who escapes from a sugar plantation in a hot-air balloon and British author Daisy Johnson’s Greek tragedy-inspired family saga Everything Under are competing for the 50,000 pound ($66,000) prize, which has a reputation for transforming writers’ careers.

The other finalists are US novelist Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room, about a woman serving life in prison; Robin Robertson’s The Long Take, a verse novel about a traumatised D-Day veteran journeying through troubled post-war American cities; and Anna Burns’ Milkman, a story of family, community and violence set during Northern Ireland’s deadly “Troubles”.

This year’s finalists include three UK authors, two Americans and a Canadian. A third consecutive American victor could revive fears among some UK writers and publishers that the prize is becoming too US-centric.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2018