“Nine of the 20 writers named yesterday on the Orange women’s fiction prize longlist were American, including one of the US’s literary titans: Toni Morrison. After Morrison, nominated for her 17th century slave trade novel A Mercy, the best-known are arguably Deirdre Madden for Molly Fox’s Birthday, Marilynne Robinson for Home, and Kamila Shamsie for Burnt Shadows. There was no place for writers such as Kate Grenville, Kate Atkinson, Helen Garner or Zoe Heller.”