Florence Ransom
Florence Ransom is a critically acclaimed English author, best known for her Booker Prize-winning novel Pennant Days.
Known as Flo-Flo or Flora, the Plymouth-born Enid Blyton super-fan and darling of the literati is the sister of Hollywood superstar Selina Mountjoy, who has herself written a tell-all memoir that looks set to outstrip her sister’s place in the best seller lists.
Ransom’s Pennant Days won the Booker Prize in the year it was released. Four books have followed since, including this year’s sequel, Return to Pennant, though none has made it onto a Booker longlist. However, Return to Pennant has become a bestseller and has been widely hailed as a ‘return to form’ for the author.
A television adaptation of Pennant Days is currently in production as a series for Netflix, with Return to Pennant looking likely to form the basis for a second season, should it be re-commissioned. The series is scheduled for a UK release in September. Discussions to cast Ransom’s actress sister, Selina Mountjoy, in the lead role are as yet unconfirmed.
Winner - The Booker Prize
Pennant Days by Florence Ransom
In Ransom’s debut novel, a woman looks back on happier times. Set in Kent in 1981, when Dorothy Cottesloe is visiting her parents. Battling the boredom of the situation, she remembers her time at Oxford and her short-lived affair with fellow student Andrew. But when Andrew returns to her after a series of bizarre coincidences, the truth rears its ugly head as a long-buried incident surfaces to deny the reality of the imagined present.
An extremely powerful story, with such freshness, intensity and impact that it feels almost impossible to step out of its world and back into reality. Pennant Days is a truly captivating offering from the unique voice of an exceptional author. This debut work is already thought by many to have all the hallmarks of a future classic.
The Booker Prize winning novel Pennant Days by Florence Ransom
Bursting with unfailing wit and authentic emotional warmth, this book stood out as a daring and deserving winner
— Judging Panel, The Booker Prize