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Marlon James’s New Novel Longlisted for 2026 Booker Prize

8/24/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Marlon James’s new novel was longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize in the United Kingdom.
The 640-page polyphonic work exposes Jamaican homophobia across AIDS-era Kingston’s neighborhoods.
The narrative jumps to 1950s England and the United States in the 2000s.
Critics describe the book as emotionally bruising and peripatetic and note its exhaustingly grand scope.

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Story summary

Marlon James’s new novel was longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize in the United Kingdom.
The 640-page polyphonic work exposes Jamaican homophobia across AIDS-era Kingston’s neighborhoods.
The narrative jumps to 1950s England and the United States in the 2000s.
Critics describe the book as emotionally bruising and peripatetic and note its exhaustingly grand scope.