The Orange Prize for excellence in fiction by women authors announced their 2008 nominees on April 15th, including three first time novelists. The nominees are: The Road Home by Rose Tremain, Fault Lines by Nancy Huston, Lottery by Patricia Wood, Lullabies for Little Children by Heather O’Neill, The Outcast by Sadie Jones, and When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson. The winner will be named on 4th July, and I haven’t read a single one of these books, so I guess I better get cracking… Here’s some views on the nominees by the BBC and by The Guardian, about the surprising inclusions, and exclusions, from this year’s list.