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Hilary Mantel, Sarah Waters and Barbara Kingsolver have made the longlist for the 2010 Orange Prize, a 20-strong list described by chair Daisy Goodwin as "muscular, original and pleasurable".
Andrea Levy, Sadie Jones and Lorrie Moore are also among the big names nominated. Almost half came from indies, including Portobello, Alma and Faber, while seven were debuts, including titles from Eleanor Catton, Kathryn Stockett and Moroccan writer Laila Lalami.
In its 15th year, the Orange, which is the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, awards £30,000 and a limited edition bronze to the winner.
The judges were author and TV presenter Daisy Goodwin; rabbi, author and broadcaster Baroness Neuberger; novelist and critic Michèle Roberts; journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer; and Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue.
"It was a tough judging process as there was a particularly strong range of books submitted from all over the world," said Goodwin. "In the end we have chosen a muscular, original and pleasurable longlist that will appeal to all kinds of readers."
The shortlist for the Orange Award for New Writers will be announced on 13th April, followed by the Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist on 20th April. The winners of both will be announced at a ceremony on 9th June.
Last year's winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction was Marilynne Robinson for Home (Virago), while Francesca Kay, author of An Equal Stillness (Weidenfeld), took home the New Writers Prize.
The longlist in full:
Rosie Alison The Very Thought of You (Alma Books)
Eleanor Catton The Rehearsal (Granta)
Clare Clark Savage Lands (Harvill Secker)
Amanda Craig Hearts and Minds (Little, Brown)
Roopa Farooki The Way Things Look to Me (Pan Books)
Rebecca Gowers The Twisted Heart (Canongate)
M J Hyland This is How (Canongate)
Sadie Jones Small Wars (Chatto & Windus)
Barbara Kingsolver The Lacuna (Faber)
Laila Lalami Secret Son (Viking)
Andrea Levy The Long Song (Headline Review)
Attica Locke Black Water Rising (Serpent’s Tail)
Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate)
Maria McCann The Wilding (Faber)
Nadifa Mohamed Black Mamba Boy (HarperCollins)
Lorrie Moore A Gate at the Stairs (Faber)
Monique Roffey The White Woman on the Green Bicycle (Simon and Schuster)
Amy Sackville The Still Point (Portobello Books)
Kathryn Stockett The Help (Fig Tree)
Sarah Waters The Little Stranger (Virago)