A girl is a ‘sure-fire’ thing for Goldsmiths Prize with Ladbrokes
Published:Despite the Goldsmiths Prize for literature containing a shortlist of six books, Ladbrokes are calling it a one-novel race as Eimear McBride’s; A Girl is a Half-formed Thing at 2/1, is the only one of the half-dozen to have seen a bet placed with the firm.
The bookies have been forced to slash the odds of Eimear McBride winning the prize to 2/1 (from 6/1) after not taking a single bet on any other contender to date.
As such, previous favourite Jim Crace (Harvest) is now out to 3/1 with Ali Smith, author of Artful, next in the betting at 4/1.
Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “If the money is to be believed McBride’s name is on the award already. We’ve not seen a single bet for any other contender and we’ve had to slash her odds accordingly.”
Like the Man Booker prize, the £10,000 Goldsmiths Prize is awarded for works of fiction, while the London college which hands out the accolade stipulates the winning book ‘is genuinely deemed as novel and which embodies the spirit of invention that characterises the genre at its best’.
Falling firmly into this daring and unusual category is McBride’s debut novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing.
The book describes in intimate and shocking detail the inner thoughts and feelings of a young woman surrounding the relationship with her brother, who is affected by a brain tumour in childhood.
The Goldsmiths Prize is the latest literary competition that Ladbrokes have added to their book award betting roster, along with the National Book Award for Fiction.
Ladbrokes latest betting
Eimear McBride 2/1
Jim Crace 3/1
Ali Smith 4/1
Philip Terry 6/1
Lars Iyer 6/1
David Peace 6/1
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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