SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Entering the final day of trading for its ‘Man Booker Prize 2017’ market, Ladbrokes has placed first-time novelist George Saunders ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ as 6/4 outright market leader to be crowned ‘best fiction novel written in the English language.’
Saunders’ ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ has garnered high critical praise, telling the emotional story of Abraham Lincoln’s conflicting grief at the death of his 11-year-old son Willie, which would shape the historical President’s conscious and worldview.
Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid’s tale of migrants’ journey through Europe, ‘Exit West’ is Ladbrokes current 7/2 second market favourite.
Further to Saunders, there is a distinctly American flavour to 2017’s Man Booker Prize, with three American Novels featured in the final shortlist. New York author, Paul Auster is perhaps the most recognisable name in the shortlist, featuring for Americana epic ‘4321’ (8/1). Auster is joined by Emily Fridlunds Midwest coming of age tale ‘History of Wolves’ (12/1).
UK hopes are represented by Fiona Mozley’s ‘Yorkshire noir’ drama ‘Elemet ’ ( 4/1) and Scottish playwright ‘Autumn’ (8/1) which has been described as the first classic novel on ‘post Brexit’ Britain.
Commenting on the market, Ladbrokes spokesman Matthew Shaddick detailed:
“At present, over half of all the money we’ve taken since the final shortlist was announced has been for Saunders. Having said that, the shortlist itself was a bit of a surprise as quite a few of the most fancied on the long-list didn’t make it; Lincoln in the Bardo was an 8/1 shot before that.”
“Looking back at recent years, only one of the last five favourites has actually triumphed, so we’ll be hoping for another upset on Tuesday.
