Novelist Mary Costello Makes Shortlist for Major Book Award

Irish novelist Mary Costello has been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award with her debut novel Academy Street, only two weeks after the book first hit the shelves.

Despite coming so swiftly after publication, the Costas are actually the novel's second shortlisting this year. By its publication date, Academy Street had already been shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year award, alongside Colm Tóibín, Joseph O'Connor, David Mitchell, John Kelly and John Boyne. Costello was also previously longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award with her highly-praised collection of short stories, The China Factory.

The novel has already been receiving huge amounts of praise from both authors and reviewers since its publication, drawing comparisons to Maeve Brennan, Edna O'Brien, John Williams and Colm Toibin. An audio abridgement for BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime will air during the highly coveted pre-Christmas slot.

"With extraordinary devotion, Mary Costello brings to life a woman who would otherwise have faded into oblivion." - J.M. COETZEE

"A markedly brave book, an unblinking attempt to recreate a life of intense ordinariness and make it special...well worth applauding." - SUNDAY TIMES

"Costello proves herself an absolute master in Academy Street." - INDEPENDENT

"Extraordinarily compelling." - GUARDIAN

"To recount a life story in a novel is a difficult task. To do so with brevity and unsentimental honesty takes greatness. Academy Street is a powerful and emotional novel from one of literature's finest new voices." - JOHN BOYNE

Academy Street is the story of Tess, who grows up in the west of Ireland in the 1940s as a shy introverted child, but whose heart of fire drive her to make her home and find love and loss on Academy Street among the hurly burly of 1960s New York.

Mary Costello grew up in County Galway. Her collection of short stories, The China Factory, was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. Her stories have been published in various anthologies and broadcast on radio. She lives in Dublin, and is available for interview.

Costello says, "'I'm delighted with this news - and a little floored! ... I'm really pleased that a story about a quiet unremarkable life is resonating with people."

The winner of the Costa First Book Award will be announced at a ceremony on January 5th 2015. This year's judges are Joanne Finney, Books Editor of Good Housekeeping; Radio 2 Book Club Producer Joe Haddow; and novelist Maggie O'Farrell.

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