Reading list
Watch the Booker Prize 2024 shortlist films
Well-known faces from Harry Potter, Sex Education, Game of Thrones, The Bear, His Dark Materials and more star in our new films showcasing the 2024 shortlist
For the fifth time in three years, the Booker Prizes have partnered with Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s production company Merman Television on a series of short films featuring well-known performers reading extracts from the shortlisted books. The films’ release has become one of the most highly anticipated moments in the Booker Prizes’ calendar, with some of the UK’s leading acting and filmmaking talent taking part. The previous set of films, published in April, were viewed over 32 million times across the Booker Prizes’ social media channels.
The new films, which showcase the 2024 shortlist for the Booker Prize, the world’s most influential award for a single work of fiction, are directed by writer, director and producer Sebastian Thiel, one of UK television’s fastest-rising stars. His directing credits include the International Emmy-nominated BBC Three comedy Dreaming Whilst Black, and the recent Netflix series Supacell.
The stars of the latest films are: Adelayo Adedayo, Nonso Anozie, Chipo Chung, Jason Isaacs, Will Poulter and Tanya Reynolds.
Nonso Anozie reads from James by Percival Everett
About the book and performer
About the book:
A profound meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, James reimagines Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
1861, the Mississippi River. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, toward the elusive promise of free states and beyond. As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise.
With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live, and together, the unlikely pair must face the most dangerous odyssey of them all.
About the performer:
Nonso Anozie played the lead role in three series of the Netflix series Sweet Tooth, for which he won a Children’s and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in 2022. His other television credits include: a series regular role on CBS’s Zoo; a recurring role in season two of Game of Thrones; the miniseries Tut, opposite Sir Ben Kingsley; he also played RM Renfield in NBC’s Dracula.
He co-starred in the Disney feature film adaptation of Artemis Fowl directed by Kenneth Branagh, and co-starred in Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat for Netflix opposite Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas. Other film credits include: 7 Days in Entebbe opposite Rosamund Pike, Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branagh, Joe Wright’s Pan and Atonement, Mike Leigh’sHappy Go Lucky, and Conan the Barbarian. He has just completed filming The Magic Faraway Tree, co-starring with Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy.
Upon graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London in 2002 he became the youngest person in history to play King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also won worldwide acclaim – and an Ian Charleson Award – for his performance in the title role of Cheek by Jowl’s Othello.
Will Poulter reads from Orbital by Samantha Harvey
About the book and performer
About the book:
In Orbital, six astronauts rotate in the International Space Station. They are there to do vital work, but slowly they begin to wonder: what is life without Earth? What is Earth without humanity?
Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents, and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world, they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction.
The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part – or protective – of it.
About the performer:
Will Poulter has established himself as one of the best young actors of his generation through his work with many of the industry’s leading filmmakers. His film credits include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning The Revenant, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Ari Aster’s acclaimed Midsommar for A24, David Michod’s War Machine, a lead role in Fox’s Maze Runner franchise and his breakthrough performance in the Warner Bros filmWe’re the Millers. His earlier work includes The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Son of Rambow, for which he received a nomination at the British Independent Film Awards for ‘Most Promising Newcomer’.
He will soon be seen in the screen adaptation of On Swift Horses, based on Shannon Pufhal’s novel of the same name. Last year, he was Emmy-nominated for his role in the Hulu TV series Dopesick. His other TV credits include a lead role in Charlie Brooker’s Emmy-nominated Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Barry Jenkins’ limited series The Underground Railroad, Hugh Laurie’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? and a recurring role in FX’s The Bear, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2014, he won the prestigious BAFTA EE Rising Star Award.
Adelayo Adedayo reads from Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
About the book and performer
About the book:
A woman is caught in the crossfire between the past and the future in Creation Lake – part-spy novel, part-profound treatise on human history.
Sadie Smith – a 34-year-old American undercover agent of ruthless tactics, bold opinions and clean beauty – is sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France. Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists led by the charismatic svengali Bruno Lacombe.
Sadie casts her cynical eye over this region of ancient farms and sleepy villages, and at first finds Bruno’s idealism laughable – he lives in a Neanderthal cave and believes the path to enlightenment is a return to primitivism. But just as Sadie is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.
About the performer:
Adelayo Adedayo has most recently been seen in the 2024 Netflix superhero series Supacell, directed by Rapman and Sebastian Thiel. In 2023 she was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award in the Supporting Actress category for her role as rookie police officer Rachel Hargreaves in the BBC One crime drama The Responder, alongside Martin Freeman.
Her other television credits include the BBC Three comedy series Some Girls, the ITV2 science-fiction comedy Timewasters, the YouTube Premium science-fiction drama Origin and the BBC One series The Capture. She also appeared in the feature film Sket, alongside Ashley Walters.
Jason Isaacs reads from Held by Anne Michaels
About the book and performer
About the book:
In Held, across a narrative that spans four generations, moments of connection and consequence ignite and re-ignite as the 20th century unfolds.
1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory – a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast – as the snow falls.
1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river – alive, but not still whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts whose messages he cannot understand.
About the performer:
A multi-award-winning British actor, Jason Isaacs’ extensive film credits include the Harry Potter series, playing Lucius Malfoy; Armando lanucci’s The Death of Stalin; Fran Kranz’s Mass; war films The Patriot; Black Hawk Down; Fury; Green Zone and Operation Mincemeat, horror films A Cure for Wellness; Event Horizonand Look Away; action-adventure films Armageddon; Abduction; Skyfire and The Tuxedo; and classic children’s films Peter Pan and Dragonheart.
He will soon be seen in Words of War, the story of the crusading journalist Anna Politskavaya who chronicled Putin’s war against the Chechens and paid with her life; The Salt Path with Gillian Anderson, a film based on Raynor Winn’s best-selling book of the same name; and Verona’s Romeo and Juliet, a pop musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play.
On television, he was most recently seen starring as Cary Grant in Jeff Pope’s four-part drama Archie (ITV); The Crowded Room (Apple TV+); in the cult hits The OA and Sex Education (Netflix); and as Captain Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access). He has recently completed filming the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus.
Tanya Reynolds reads from The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
About the book and performer
About the book:
The Safekeep is an exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes – and the legacy of one of the 20th century’s greatest tragedies
It’s 15 years since the Second World War and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the conflict is well and truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel’s life is as it should be: led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel’s doorstep-as a guest, there to stay for the season…
Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, wakes late, walks loudly through the house and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fuelled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house her suspicions spiral out of control. In the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel’s desperate desire for order transforms into infatuation – leading to a discovery that unravels all she has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva – nor the house – are what they seem.
About the performer:
Tanya Reynolds can currently be seen in Netflix’s mediaeval comedy drama The Decameron. Her first major role came in 2016, when she was a series regular in the Sky comedy drama Delicious, alongside Dawn French and Iain Glen. From 2019 to 2023 she starred as Lily Iglehart in the first three seasons of the comedy drama Sex Education on Netflix. Her other television credits include the Starz historical drama series Outlander (2017), Sky Atlantic’s horror comedy The Baby (2022) and Robert Popper’s Channel 4 comedy I Hate You (2022). Her film credits include Autumn de Wilde’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma (2020) and Alice Lowe’s Timestalker (2024). In 2020 Tanya appeared on Screen International’s annual Stars of Tomorrow list, alongside Emma Corrin, Ncuti Gatwa and Paul Mescal. In 2024 she was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category for her performance in Sam Holcroft’s A Mirror at London’s Trafalgar Theatre.
Chipo Chung reads from Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
About the book and performer
About the book:
The past comes knocking in Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood’s fearless exploration of forgiveness, grief and female friendship.
Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of New South Wales. She doesn’t believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living a strange, reclusive existence almost by accident.
But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signalling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past.
About the performer:
Chipo Chung was recently seen starring as the lead in Hulu and Disney+ series Black Cake, and as series regular Michaela in Apple TV sci-fi thriller Constellations. Chipo will soon be seen returning to the second series of Apple TV series Silo.
Other screen work includes HBO/BBC’s adaptation of His Dark Materials, Into the Badlands for AMC, Thirteen for BBC, and AD: The Bible Continues for NBC.
Chipo has read a number of audiobooks for Audible, including the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, Nervous Conditions by the 2020 Booker Prize-shortlisted Tsitsi Dangarembga and The Book of Memory by International Booker Prize 2022 judge Petina Gappah.
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