1973 winner:   The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell.
Mr. Hopkins, the collector, or chief administrator, of a colonial outpost, first realizes there will be trouble when a series of four "chapatis," or biscuits, begin appearing--on his desk, on the veranda, in dispatch cases. They foretell the rebellion of the Indian sepoy, or soldiers, employed by the British raj. RC 32993, BR 8666.
                       
1974 winner:  The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer.
A complex symbolic novel in which a materialistic white tycoon buys a large farm outside Johannesburg as a weekend retreat, hoping to share it with his leftist mistress. Bent on preserving his way of life, he is disconcerted by the discovery of a black corpse on his property, a graphic warning that his white money cannot really buy Africa. Explicit descriptions of sex and strong language. RC 16169.

1975 winner:   Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
An English girl in India recounts the story of Olivia, her grandfather’s first wife, who was seduced by the Nawab, an Indian prince, in 1923. The parallels between the two women’s experiences explore the English attraction to the exotic Indian culture. RC 49404,
BR 2984.
   
1976 winner:   Saville by David Storey.
Memorable novel and eloquent portrait of a coal miner’s son growing up in South Yorkshire before World War II and into the 1950’s. RC 10478, BR 3321.

1977 winner:   Staying On by Paul Scott.
Novel about an elderly British couple who stay on in India for twenty-five years after the country’s independence. Vainly trying to maintain tradition on a dwindling income, they are oppressed by the suspicion that their genteel contributions to the civilized community were a waste. Raj series, book 5. RC 12356.

1978 winner:   The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch.
A recently retired, successful, theatrical figure is living alone by choice in a creaky, damp house by the sea on the English coast. Haunted by his past, he recalls love affairs, theatrical feuds, experiences. But current realities intrude on his fantasies. RC 14251.

1979 winner:   Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald.
On the Thames River in London, a small group of people live on several old boats converted into houses. Among them are a male prostitute, an ex-naval officer, an artist, and a young, separated wife with two daughters. Their lives revolve around the tides and the repairs needed to keep their homes afloat. Some strong language. RC 46932.

1980 winner:   Rites of Passage by William Golding.
The shipboard journal of well-born English bachelor Edmund Talbot, who sails to the Antipodes early in the nineteenth century. Snobbish Edmund observes and misjudges the oddities of the ship’s officers, crew, and his fellow passengers as they move toward inevitable tragedy. Edmund Talbot series, book 1. RC 18406.

1981 winner:   Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.
Biting satire tells of Saleem Sinai, who is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947---the same instant of the birth of the new state of India. From that moment, his life is magically entwined with India's fate as a nation. Saleem's particular gift is a "cucumber" of a nose with which he smells his way through life. RC 16993.

1982 winner:   Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally.
In 1939, Oskar Schindler, a young, wealthy, enterprising German interested in drinking and women, is a less-than-exemplary Catholic. In this "nonfiction novel," Keneally tells the story of his transformation into a man who, at great personal risk, saves hundreds of Jews from death during World War II. Violence and some strong language. RC 20835, BR 9689. Also available as a descriptive video, DV 91.

1983 winner:   Life and Times of Michael K. by J.M. Coetzee.
Portrait of South Africa, a land and a people beset by violence and siege. Centers on a handicapped young man, Michael K. and his dying mother, who set out on a journey without the required transit passes so that she can return to her birthplace in the veld.
RC 20364.

1984 winner:   Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner.
Humorous and moving tale of a romantic writer of fiction, Edith Hope. Nearing forty and still unmarried, she becomes hopelessly infatuated with a man, and is bundled off by solicitous friends to the discreet Hotel du Lac in Switzerland. There she receives an odd marriage proposal from an elegantly creepy Mr. Neville, who "needs a wife who is a lady." RC 21510.

1985 winner:   The Bone People by Keri Hulme.
Kerewin Holmes, an exuberant New Zealand part-Maori painter, lives in her tower by the sea until she is beguiled by a strange child, Simon, and by his father, black-haired Joe, a Maori. They feast and drink together to stupefaction, wound each other, and experience a kind of dying and eventual healing. The novel is filled with Maori phrases and Maori references. Strong language, violence, and some descriptions of sex. RC 24252.

1986 winner:   The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis.
A comedy of manners set in Wales. A circle of old friends who have drifted apart due to the international success of one of their number is reconstituted when the prodigal returns home. This social set has not aged gracefully, and the author’s descriptions painfully yet gleefully capture the marks of advancing years. Some strong language. RC 25620.

1987 winner:   Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively.
Writer Claudia Hampton, dying of cancer in a London hospital, reflects on her varied life. A brief love affair amid wartime Cairo is the touchstone against which she measures her marriage and motherhood. Strong language and some descriptions of sex. RC 31722.

1988 winner:   Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey.
Set in England and Australia in the 1860s. Tells the story of love, commerce, religion, and colonization in the Victorian age. The main characters are Oscar, an Oxford-educated Church of England minister; and Lucinda, an eccentric Australian who sinks her inheritance into a glass factory. They have a common passion--gambling, and their biggest gamble is a glass church they build in the Outback. RC 29288.

1989 winner:   The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Stevens, butler at Darlington Hall for some thirty years, muses on his life of service to the great gentleman, the late Lord Darlington. It is 1956 and Stevens, persuaded by his new employer to take a vacation, is motoring through the English countryside. Below the surface of perfection and correctness, some doubts about Lord Darlington’s sterling image begin to niggle. RC 30751.

1990 winner:   Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt.
While doing research in London for his dissertation on the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, Roland Mitchell discovers two letters that lead him to believe Ash is connected with Christable LaMotte. He meets with Dr. Maud Bailey, a LaMotte scholar, and together they explore the mysterious link between the two poets. As they do, they find themselves falling in love--but not before they become involved in a graveyard stakeout. RC 31987.

1991 winner: The Famished Road by Ben Okri.
An allegorical tale in which Azaro, a spirit-child living with a Nigerian family, chronicles the villagers’ daily routines as they struggle to overcome poverty, famine, and entrenched political chicanery. Some violence. RC 46288.

1991 winner: Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth.
A tale of the mid-eighteenth-century slave trade. In 1752, William Kemp has a cargo ship built to transport slaves from Africa to the West Indies. Shipboard life is terrifying. The ship is becalmed, the crew and slaves sicken and die, the ship’s doctor leads a mutiny, and the remaining crew and slaves find shelter on the uninhabited coast of Florida. Some violence. RC 35725.

1992 winner:   The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.
This novel is set in Italy during the final days of World War II. Four people occupy an abandoned villa: the "English patient," badly burned in a parachute jump; a former spy and thief who was tortured by the Nazis; an exhausted nurse; and a bomb disposal expert. The members of this disparate quartet reveal their pasts while forming new connections to one another. Some strong language. RC 35558. Also available as a descriptive video, DV 156.

1993 winner:   Paddy Clarke Ha, Ha, Ha by Roddy Doyle.
Ten-year-old Paddy Clarke lives in Barrytown, Ireland, with his da and ma and younger siblings. He and his friends are constantly busy (often cruelly) giving each other dead legs, setting fires, and tormenting others, especially Paddy’s little brother. But a pall is cast on his enjoyable life when his parents’ arguing begins to escalate. Paddy is amazed at the changes in himself as he tries to will them to stop. RC 37350.

1994 winner:   How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman.
Sammy, a Glasgow drunk, hits bottom and makes matters worse by picking a fight with two soldiers. He sobers up in jail, minus his sight, his money, and his girlfriend, and, to no one’s surprise who knows him, finds his own solutions for dealing with the bureaucracy that tries to help him. Within a few days, Sammy deals with his failures, dispenses advice to his son, and makes a fresh start. Strong language. RC 39808.

1995 winner:   The Ghost Road by Pat Barker.
During World War I, neurologist William Rivers struggles with the dilemma of healing men who must then return to action. Patient Billy Prior wants to go back to the French front, though the war is nearing an end. World War I series, book 3. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. RC 48084, BR 10741.

1996 winner:   Last Orders by Graham Swift.
Three British World War II veterans and drinking mates set out to fulfill a friend’s dying request: that his ashes be scattered into the sea at Margate. En route, the men reflect on love, war, marriage, and business, as they reveal the failed hopes of their own lives. Strong language. RC 44117.

1997 winner:   The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
A story of class struggle, family crisis, and coming of age in Kerala, India. Born to prosperity, twins Estha and Rahel are isolated from the squalor and political unrest around them. The events of a single day in 1969 alter their lives and relationships forever. Descriptions of sex. RC 44608.

1998 winner:   Amsterdam by Ian McEwan.
The swift and cruel demise of a mutual former lover precipitates a euthanasia pact between two friends: Clive Linley, a composer, and Vernon Halliday, an editor. But the amicable agreement soon becomes a tool for murderous revenge. Some strong language. RC 47666.

1999 winner:   Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee.
Divorced, fifty-two-year-old professor David Lurie is dismissed from a Cape Town university for seducing a twenty-year-old student. After retreating to his daughter’s farm, an unprovoked attack by three African youths causes Lurie to reflect on his value system. Some descriptions of sex, some violence, and some strong language. RC 49263.

2000 winner:   The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.
This convoluted tale of two sisters begins with the questionable circumstances of the 1945 death of the younger, Laura, at twenty-five. A memoir by Iris, the surviving and now elderly sister, recalls what led up to the tragic event. Interspersed is a novel-within-a-novel, Laura’s posthumously published book. RC 50848.

2001 winner:   The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey.
Australia, 1880; Ned Kelly is hanged for a series of crimes. Before his execution, Kelly writes letters to his daughter describing his life. Recalls how his mother apprenticed him to a highwayman and how, at age fourteen, he robbed rich Englishmen who despised the Irish. Strong language and some violence. RC 53638.

2002 winner:   Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
Pi Patel, the sole human survivor of a shipwreck, is in a lifeboat with an injured zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and an adult Bengal tiger. Strangely, after 227 days in the Pacific, the boy and the tiger make landfall. Some violence. RC 54950.

2003 winner:   Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre.
After a Texas high school massacre fifteen-year-old sole survivor Vernon Little becomes a suspect. Stalked by the media, Vernon flees to Mexico only to be apprehended and brought to trial for murder. A picaresque satire on America mores. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. RC 58032.

2004 winner:   The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.
1980s. After university, gay Nick Guest moves into the London mansion of his friend Toby, whose father is a conservative politician. Nick has relationships with a black clerk and later a Lebanese millionaire while enjoying a privileged lifestyle. Explicit descriptions of sex and strong language. RC 59483.

2005 winner:   The Sea by John Banville.
Middle-aged Irish widower Max Morden retreats to the seaside where he spent his boyhood summers to mourn the loss of his wife, Anna. While his grown daughter tries to console him, he confronts the past and his relationship with the wealthy Grace family. Strong language. RC 61200, BR 16232.

2006 winner:   The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
Himalayas, 1986. Retired judge Jemubhai Patel lives with his cook and sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Sai. An Indian-Nepalese insurgency makes Jemubhai confront his past and interrupts Sai’s romance with her Nepali tutor. Meanwhile, the cook worries about his son in America. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. RC 64261.