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Demand for Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton) is high, says Waterstones, with PRH ordering a reprint of the Booker-winning title.
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I feel like this photo rather sums up the Booker result, doesn't it? pic.twitter.com/PHLpLT9uhs
— David Owen (@davidowenauthor) October 17, 2019
PRH said following the Booker, a reprint of Girl, Woman, Other was ordered with copies hitting the shelves "speedily". A spokesperson for PRH said: “The team at Penguin Random House, both in London and at the warehouse in Frating have done a great job in conjunction with Clays, the printer, and our retail partners to get Girl, Woman, Other re-printed and on the shelves speedily following last Monday’s win. We’ve worked closely with the Waterstones team, both in the planning and implementation – enabling us to get the first of the new winner’s stock in stores on Friday, and to fully stock their stores by Saturday. The retailer, media and public reception to Bernardine’s magnificent book has been fantastic and we’re incredibly excited to see it reach the widest possible readership in the weeks and months to come.”
Responding to the furore on Twitter, Waterstones said: "We know that some readers have been frustrated not finding copies of Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo in our Booker Prize displays. The short version is that we keep selling out. This is partly to do with supply (as you’ll see with other retailers who are sold out too) and also of course the sheer popularity of the book. Stock of The Testaments was naturally already high after the high-profile launch in Sep. We’re keen to put as many copies of both books in the hands of readers who want them and there is no wish to hide Bernardine’s achievement. On the contrary,
'If you want to understand modern day Britain, this is the writer to read' - New Statesman.
— Waterstones (@Waterstones) May 11, 2019
Girl, Woman, Other - the new novel from @BernardineEvari is getting incredible reviews. In this very personal Shelfie she shares some of her inspirations.
đź“— https://t.co/RYB71lwk6V pic.twitter.com/VTapPaAx3J
'What I feel, is unstoppable.'
— Waterstones (@Waterstones) October 17, 2019
We had the best chat with @BernardineEvari on winning #BookerPrize2019 and her excellent novel Girl, Woman, Other. It's so good we can't fit it all on Twitter so here's a taste and here's the full interview: https://t.co/r5tqIkb5dR pic.twitter.com/Cz1eKRMB7I
Waterstones fiction buyer Bea Carvalho told The Bookseller that demand for Evaristo has been "extremely high" following her win at the Booker on Monday 14th October. She said: “Following the announcement of the Booker Prize winners last week, customer demand for Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo at Waterstones was extremely high and, as with most prize winners, our stock sold through very quickly. Happily, we had a large reprint through which reached most shops by the weekend and on Saturday sales of Bernadine Evaristo’s novel exceeded those of The Testaments at Waterstones.”
The Booker Prize was jointly won by Atwood and Evaristo, after the judges rebelled and broke the rules. The £50,000 prize money will be split between the two authors following a shock announcement at London’s Guildhall. Booksellers welcomed the joint win, calling it “an absolute gift for bookselling” after chair of judges Peter Florence said the panel had been unable to "compromise", despite being told twice it was against the prize’s rules by both the Booker Prize Foundation’s literary director Gaby Wood and head of trustees Helena Kennedy.