The Lost Man Booker Prize to honour books published in 1970

In 1971, just two years after it began, the Booker Prize ceased to be awarded retrospectively and became a prize for the best novel in the year of publication. At the same time, the award moved from April to November, creating a whole year's gap when fiction published in1970 fell through the net. These books were simply never considered for the prize - until now.

Forty years on, a panel of three judges - all of whom were born in or around 1970 - has been appointed to select a shortlist of six novels from those books. They are journalist and critic, Rachel Cooke, newsreader, Katie Derham and novelist, Tobias Hill.

They will select a shortlist from 22 books which would have been eligible and are still in print and generally available today.

Finalists:
The Hand Reared Boy Brian Aldiss;
A Little Of What You Fancy? H.E.Bates;
The Birds On The Trees Nina Bawden;
A Place In England Melvyn Bragg;
Down All The Days Christy Brown;
Bomber Len Deighton;
Troubles J.G.Farrell;
The Circle Elaine Feinstein;
The Bay Of Noon Shirley Hazzard;
A Clubbable Woman Reginald Hill;
I'm The King Of The Castle Susan Hill;
A Domestic Animal Francis King;
The Fire Dwellers Margaret Laurence;
Out Of The Shelter David Lodge;
A Fairly Honourable Defeat Iris Murdoch;
Fireflies Shiva Naipaul;
Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian;
Head To Toe Joe Orton;
Fire From Heaven Mary Renault;
A Guilty Thing Surprised Ruth Rendell;
The Driver's Seat Muriel Spark
The Vivisector Patrick White.

The Lost Man Booker Prize is the brainchild of Peter Straus, honorary archivist to the Booker Prize Foundation. "I noticed that when Robertson Davies's Fifth Business was first published it carried encomiums from Saul Bellow and John Fowles both of whom judged the 1971 Booker Prize,” said Straus. “However judges for 1971 said it had not been considered or submitted. This led to an investigation which concluded that a year had been excluded. I am delighted that, even in a Darwinian way, this year, with so many extraordinary novels, can now be covered by the Man Booker Prize."

The shortlist will be announced in March but the international reading public will decide the winner by voting via the Man Booker Prize website. The overall winner will be announced in May.