Literary heavyweights in the form of AS Byatt, JM Coetzee and Colm Tóibín were today named on the 13-strong longlist for the Booker prize.
The broadcaster James Naughtie, who is chairing this year's judges, called it one of the "strongest lists in recent memory" with a good span of styles and themes.
Two former winners are nominated. Byatt, who won in 1990 for Possession, is longlisted for The Children's Book, an almost staggeringly detailed book set between 1895 and 1919 which explores the Edwardian cult of childhood. And Coetzee, who won in 1999 for Disgrace, is named for his yet-to-be-published novel Summertime.
One of the most popular books to make the list is Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which recreates the Tudor court of Henry VIII seen through the eyes of the king's most trusted adviser, Thomas Cromwell. The novel – expect it to be popular beach reading this summer – has been one of the best-reviewed books of the year so far. The Guardian's Christopher Tayler called it "a display of Mantel's extraordinary talent" adding: "Lyrically yet cleanly and tightly written, solidly imagined yet filled with spooky resonances, and very funny at times, it's not like much else in contemporary British fiction."
Many would be pleased if this was the year for one of Ireland's most acclaimed writers, Colm Tóibín. He has been a Booker bridesmaid twice – shortlisted in 1999 for The Blackwater Lightship and in 2004 for The Master, which by all accounts came extremely close – and is this year longlisted for his funny and moving study of belonging, Brooklyn.
Other established names on the list include Sarah Waters for The Little Stranger, William Trevor for Love and Summer and Sarah Hall for How to Paint a Dead Man.
Judges will now meet in a month's time and whittle the list down to six. The other longlisted novels are Adam Foulds for The Quickening Maze, Samantha Harvey for The Wilderness, James Lever for Me Cheeta, Simon Mawer for The Glass Room, Ed O'Loughlin for Not Untrue & Not Unkind and James Scudamore for Heliopolis.
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