Mere hours after finishing the first draft of her novel Stone Yard Devotional, about a woman who retreats to a monastery in the face of personal crisis, Australian author Charlotte Wood received a call back for a breast screening and was diagnosed with cancer. It was just the weirdest timing, she says. Both her sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer around the same time. Everything just sort of collapsed.
When she returned to the book, she found she was a changed person: Everything had been stripped back to the elements of what's important to you as a person. This newfound clarity encouraged her to double down on her initial impulse with the novel, to just strip away anything inessential. That clarity has been rewarded.
In the wake of the announcement on Tuesday morning, Wood said she was still processing the news: I don't even know what to say about it it's such a deep, deep honour. There's so much luck involved [in literary prizes], she said, citing author Julian Barnes's famous quip that the Booker was like posh bingo.
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