The Society of Authors is delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2015 Betty Trask Prize.

This year’s shortlist offers a diverse range of first novels, transporting us from the heated environment of a professional kitchen to the desolation of post-war Berlin and exploring the opposing conditions of old age and youth.

BEN FERGUSSON THE SPRING OF KASPER MEIER (Little, Brown)

‘A moody-blue, grimly atmospheric novel exploring amorality and survival in a frightening, unsettling post-war city.’

EMMA HEALEY ELIZABETH IS MISSING (Viking)

‘Simultaneously a haunting evocation of the world of Alzheimer’s and a gradual uncovering of a long-ago crime – a gripping and markedly original novel.’

ZOE PILGER EAT MY HEART OUT (Serpent’s Tail)

‘The exuberant energy of Pilger’s prose grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck and refuses to let go.’

SIMON WROE CHOP CHOP (Viking)

‘Set in an inferno-like restaurant kitchen, this a fiercely funny and vividly written black comedy that also likeably encompasses genuine emotion.’

The Betty Trask Prize is given annually to a debut novel of outstanding literary merit by an author under the age of 35. The winner receives £10,000 and will be announced at the Authors’ Awards ceremony on 25 June. The three runners up will also receive a Betty Trask Award, worth £5,000. Both the Prize and Awards will be presented by Sarah Waters, herself a recipient of a Betty Trask Award in 1999 for Tipping the Velvet (Virago).

The judges this year are Mike Gayle, Peter Kemp, Michèle Roberts.