Foyles have today announced their three Books of the Year for 2017 - with two of our titles making the list. Voted for by booksellers and staff from London, Bristol, Birmingham and Chelmsford from three shortlists of this year's bestselling books, this is the first year the award has been separated into three categories, following last year's inaugural prize won by Paul Beatty's The Sellout.
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The Power and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls announced as Foyles Books of the Year
Naomi Alderman's The Power was named Fiction Book of the Year, following on from winning this year's Bailey's Prize in June. Published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin General, The Power places the reader in a dystopian future where teenage girls find that, with a flick of their fingers, they can inflict agonising pain, and even death - seeing the lives of its four protagonists transformed.
Speaking of The Power, Simon from the Foyles marketing team said: "What if all women developed the power to electrocute people at will? In The Power Naomi Alderman answers this intriguing question in spectacular style, weaving an utterly absorbing narrative around the lives of characters around the world as they bear witness to society's violent transformation. If you like your page-turners whip-smart and ferociously current, this is the book for you."
Penguin Press' Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls was named Children's Book of the Year - following on from its recent nomination for Waterstones Book of the Year. A huge success for Particular Books and authors Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo throughout 2017, the book is a true celebration of the heroines who definitely don't need rescuing. Through the beautifully-illustrated stories of 100 heroic women - from Elizabeth I to Serena Williams to Malala - the book succeeds in redressing the lack of female role models in children's literature, in collaboration with sixty phenomenal female artists.
Laura from Foyles Waterloo was emphatic about Goodnight Stories, calling it: "A book that reinvents the fairytale for young women. Each inspirational story is beautifully illustrated by a different artist and tells the true story of an exceptional woman. From historical figures like Elizabeth I to sporting greats such as the Williams sisters, these are 100 stories to inspire and delight."
Completing the list was Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Bloomsbury), which was named Non-Fiction Book of the Year.
Celebrating the awards, Foyles CEO Paul Currie commented: "You can always rely on a Foyles bookseller to recommend books that will entertain, surprise, challenge and stir the reader, and our colleagues have done just that with these three excellent books. As part of our core values we ask all our booksellers to be current and I think this really shines through in their choices this year: it’s hard to think of three books more relevant to the here and now."
