Booker Prize Foundation to create special prize

Dame Beryl Bainbridge is to be posthumously awarded the prize that eluded her no less than five times.

The Camden Town author (pictured), who died last April, was shortlisted a record-breaking five times for the Man Booker Prize – earning her the nickname the “Booker bridesmaid”.

Now in her honour, the Booker Prize Foundation has created a special award asking the public to name the best of her five shortlisted books out of: The Dressmaker (1973), The Bottle Factory Outing (1974), An Awfully Big Adventure (1990), Every Man For Himself (1996) and Master Georgie (1998).

Highgate biographer Ion Trewin, literary director of the Man Booker Prizes, said: “Dame Beryl was a very gracious non-winner and no Man Booker dinner was complete without her. She may have been the eternal Booker Bridesmaid but, with this special prize created in her honour, we are delighted to be able finally to crown her a Booker Bride by letting the public choose what they believe to be the best of her books.”

Bainbridge fans can vote for “the best of Beryl” via an online poll on the website www.themanbookerprize.com.

The winning title will be announced in mid-April.