ON SEPTEMBER 15th the shortlist for the 2015 Man Booker Prize for fiction was announced from a longlist of 13. The six books are tough, but also hopeful and diverse. The authors include two Americans, two Brits, a Nigerian and, for the first time in the prize’s history, a Jamaican. They range in age from 28 to 73, and list includes both a debut novel—“The Fishermen” by Chigozie Obioma—and a 20th—Anne Tyler's “A Spool of Blue Thread”.

This is only the second year that the prize was open to any books written originally in English; previously it had been restricted to writers from Britain, Ireland, the Commonwealth and Zimbabwe. Fears that the prize would be overrun by American authors have so far proved unfounded.

At the press conference after the announcement, the five judges were asked whether “A Little Life”, by Hanya Yanagihara, an intense saga centred on the friendship between four men living in Manhattan, had divided the judges as much as it has divided the public. A writer for the New Yorker wrote that it was a book that could “drive you mad, consume you, and take over your life”; a critic for the Los Angeles Times said it had reduced them to tears. Michael Wood, the chair of the judges, came closest to revealing details of the judges' deliberations. "It didn't divide us," he said, "but it did test us."

A further surprise is that “Lila”, the last of the Gilead trilogy by the American author Marilynne Robinson, did not make the shortlist. She has previously won both a Pulitzer and the Orange prize; “Lila” won the National Book Critics Circle award in March. Anne Enright, a former Man Booker winner, also failed to make the final six with "The Green Road".

The winner of the prize—and the cheque for £50,000—will be announced on October 13th; all the shortlisted authors receive £2,500 and a commemorative bound copy of the nominated book.

The shortlist:

A Brief History of Seven Killings”, by Marlon James, Jamaica (Oneworld)

“Satin Island”, by Tom McCarthy, UK (Jonathan Cape)

The Fishermen”, by Chigozie Obioma, Nigeria (ONE, Pushkin Press)

“The Year of the Runaways”, by Sunjeev Sahota (Picador)

“A Spool of Blue Thread”, by Anne Tyler (Chatto & Windus)

A Little Life”, by Hanya Yanagihara (Picador)