So the longlist for the Booker Prize 2011 has been revealed. For the winner, a bounty beckons which is almost unparalleled in the literary world – a huge sales boon, blanket media coverage and (virtually) guaranteed interest in future publications. It almost seems inconceivable that a Booker Prize-winner could muster the following statement: “My wife has been my most crucial support, financially as well as emotionally and psychologically. She worked full-time up until her retirement a couple of years ago.”
