I’ve read the Booker 2026 shortlist. Two novels are brilliant on living through the mess of the 2020s

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Black Bag, by Luke Kennard, and The Things We Never Say, by Elizabeth Strout, hinge on characters who confront the ways in which their lives are at the mercy of others ...

In the mood for a wild card? It isn’t just technically true that the judges of this year’s Booker Prize could plump for any of the shortlisted novels when they make their announcement on Monday night. It also feels that way. The panel, chaired by Mary Beard, have already flagged that their conversations are filled with persuasive observations, evolving opinions and dissent.

Having read the six books, I can imagine a spirited case being made for each one (which is not the same as saying I would make it). The Disappearers, by Marlon James, is vivid, violent and epic. John of John, by Douglas Stuart, another previous winner, is evocative, intimate and heartbreaking. The End of Everything, by M John Harrison, who at 81 would become the oldest ever winner, is odd, grim and inventive.

But it’s the other two contenders I want to concentrate on: Black Bag, by Luke Kennard, and The Things We Never…

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