Hilary Mantel emerges as Man Booker Prize favourite
26th July 2012 - 1:7pm
Following the publication of the Man Booker Prize longlist, Hilary Mantel has emerged as the favourite to win the 2012 award, which would represent her second victory overall.
Her new book Bring Up the Bodies is 3/1 with bookmaker William Hill to triumph this year, ahead of the second favourite, Will Self's Umbrella, which is 5/1.
Rachel Joyce's 2012 Desmond Elliott Prize winner The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is 6/1 to scoop the GBP 50,000 prize, while three-time Booker nominee Nicola Barker is 8/1 to finally land the award with her latest novel, The Yips.
The rank outsider for the award is 20/1 shot Ned Beauman, who will become the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker Prize at the age of 27 if his novel The Teleportation Accident is successful.
William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said the list is a varied and fascinating one, with a good mix of styles and genres, though the bookmaker did not hesitate to install Mantel as the favourite.
'Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall was the best backed Booker Prize winner of all time and we fear all her fans will be equally convinced the new one will follow suit - so we're taking no chances by making her follow-up book hot favourite again,' he added.
A shortlist of six titles will be unveiled on September 11th, with the winner announced at the Guildhall in London on October 16th.