Netherland leads Booktrust most-recommended poll

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

O’Neill novel is the critics choice

6 January 2009

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill (Fourth Estate), longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, was the literary critics' top read of 2008 according to a list compiled by the charity Booktrust.

Looking at more than 2,000 end-of-year recommendations in the British press, Booktrust noted that Netherland was nominated as ‘book of the year' 17 times, coming in ahead of the 2008 Man Booker Prize winner The White Tiger, nominated as ‘book of the year' seven times.  

Sebastian Barry, whose novel The Secret Scripture made it onto the 2008 Man Booker Prize, described O'Neill's Neverland as ‘a wonder, and then some.'

You can hear an audio extract from Netherland in the audio section of the Man Booker Prize website.

More on this story available on The Guardian website.

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