Nathan Filer wins Costa book award
According to the Telegraph of UK, Filer won against more fancied contenders, not least Kate Atkinson, for his debut novel The Shock of the Fall.The novelist Rose Tremain, who chaired the judges, said: “For a first novel it is astonishingly sure-footed … I think there is genuine excitement about this winner.”The book is narrated by […]
According to the Telegraph of UK, Filer won against more fancied contenders, not least Kate Atkinson, for his debut novel The Shock of the Fall.
The novelist Rose Tremain, who chaired the judges, said: “For a first novel it is astonishingly sure-footed … I think there is genuine excitement about this winner.”
The book is narrated by Bristol boy Matthew from the age of five to his early 20s and is a gripping account of his descent into schizophrenic illness following the death of his younger brother. It is told when he is at school, when he is smoking too much marijuana in a grotty flat and from the psychiatric wards he ends up in.
Tremain said, though, it was not just about schizophrenia: “It is about grief and this is a subject we all have experience of. It is grief analysed but treated absolutely without sentimentality. It gets near that and there were moments when I got worried, but it always avoids them.”
The Costa prize is unusual in that it pits five category winners – novel, first novel, biography, children’s and poetry – against each other for the top £30,000 prize; like comparing chicken curry with custard, as one former judge said.
Atkinson had been strong favourite to win for her eighth novel Life After Life, which would have been her second Costa win. It was not to be. “There’s always going to be a bookies’ favourite,” said Tremain. “By bookies who haven’t read the books.”
Filer, aged 33, has worked in psychiatric wards for more than a decade. When last asked about it he said he intended to carry on with the odd shift and to keep his nursing registration up.
The book is the product of Filer’s MA in creative writing at Bath Spa University, where he now lectures.
Last year it was the subject of a fierce 11-way bidding war by publishers – always looking for the next potential Mark Haddon and his The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It was eventually secured by Harper Collins, who offered a six-figure deal.
Filer was clearly not expecting to win, nor was his new wife Emily who he married on Saturday. “I was 100% certain he wasn’t going to win,” she said.
He was thrilled though. “I wrote this book because I want to share it, I wasn’t writing it for myself… I always wanted people to read it and winning this means more and more people will read it so I’m absolutely delighted by that.”
Filer said he had felt a responsibility not to propagate myths around mental health and would continue nursing shifts, including one coming up on Sunday.
He is the fifth first novelist to win, with previous winners including Atkinson, who won in 1995 for Behind The Scenes at the Museum. The last one was Stef Penney in 2006 with The Tenderness of Wolves.
The prize, now in its 42nd year, unashamedly rewards enjoyability. It was known as the Whitbread prize from 1971 to 2005.
This year’s nine-strong judging panel included actor Natascha McElhone, Pointless expert Richard Osman, singer Sharleen Spiteri, and authors and writers Gerard Woodward, Emma Kennedy, Anne de Courcy, Matthew Cain and John Burnside.