Sweet Fruit, Sour Land by Rebecca Ley is the winner of the 2018 Not the Booker Prize.

Our three judges have taken the brave decision to overrule the public vote and put their weight behind this dark dystopian novel in the place of Ariel Kahn’s optimistic and gentle Raising Sparks.

The public vote went as follows:

Ariel Kahn – Raising Sparks – 108
Naomi Booth – Sealed – 105
Will Dean – Dark Pines – 94
Rebecca Ley – Sweet Fruit, Sour Land – 24
Dervla McTiernan – The Ruin – 14
Marc Nash – Three Dreams in the Key of G – 3

This meant that Raising Sparks carried two votes through to the final round. But our judges – who also each had one vote – didn’t feel able to add the extra endorsement that would get it over the line. They felt that Kahn’s novel, for all its virtues, relied too much on coincidence, contained too much exposition and didn’t quite realise its attempts at magical realism. The stark poetry and sincerity of Ley’s novel, in contrast, made them certain in their choice. It’s also notable that this novel rewarded rereading more than others on the list.

As you can see from my earlier piece, Sweet Fruit, Sour Land wasn’t my favourite novel – but that makes this choice so much the better and so much the more interesting. The judges weren’t swayed by my opinions or suggestions about other books and were absolutely solid in their decision. It surprised me – but again, I’m taking that as a positive. It’s great that the Not the Booker still has the ability to spring something new and unexpected 10 years into its run. Clearly, we have a worthy winner. Many congratulations to Rebecca Ley.

All that remains is for me to thank our excellent judges, thank you for your enjoyable contributions below the line, thank the excellent Lisa Jones for counting those votes and thank you all for reading. I’m looking forward to next year already … Who knows what it will bring?