Sorry for the late notice, but this closes at midnight tonight, BST. https://cheshirenovelprize.com

James mentioned having title fomo with regards to the ten finalists which got me thinking about the importance of titles. Sometimes simplicity speaks volumes such as Lolita, Rebecca, Night, 1984, Dune and Stoner. The wonderful Mr King is particularly adept at minimal word titles; It, Misery, Cujo, Carrie and Christine to name just a few. The job of a title is to arouse intrigue and an excellent title will lodge in your memory. So many times I've wanted to recommend a book and I've faltered because I couldn't remember the title. Some of my favourites: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller. Some of the best titles almost didn't happen, for example 'Gone With The Wind' was almost titled 'Tote The Weary Load' (I kid you not) and 'The Sound and the Fury' was almost called 'Twilight'. What are some of your favourites?

It's done. After five hundred and forty entries, more reading and re-reading than I can account for, and a great deal of heated debate, we have our final ten. These are the openings our judges have chosen to carry through to the last stage of the Marlowe & Christie Novel Prize. Reaching this point, out of a field this large and this genuinely strong, is no small thing, and I want to say clearly that the standard across the whole competition this year has been extraordinary. If you were commended or highly commended and aren't on this list, that is not a verdict on your book. The line had to fall somewhere, and it fell among work I'd happily have championed either side of it. The final ten (in no particular order): 🔟 The Break-up Artist 🔟 A Murder of Crows 🔟 Sea of Clouds 🔟 Flotsam 🔟 Pigeons 🔟 The Dog That Didn't Bark 🔟 Crooked Little Smile 🔟 All That Has Wings 🔟 Nonsuch Island 🔟 Rathaus Here's what happens now. These ten go forward together, anonymously, judged on the writing alone, to be read by four people from the publishing world. The winners will be chosen from this stage. They are: 📚 Alec Shane — a literary agent at Writers House in New York, one of the largest and most established agencies in the world, representing fiction from literary and historical to crime, thriller and horror. 📚 Jenny Hewson — a literary agent at Lutyens & Rubinstein in London, who joined after a decade at Rogers, Coleridge & White. The authors she represents have been shortlisted for and won prizes including the Booker and the Women's Prize, and she has a particular love of distinctive literary voices. 📚 Katie Seaman — an editor who spent a decade commissioning fiction at major publishing houses including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, now a freelance editor and book coach across commercial and literary fiction. 📚 Patrick Gleeson — a novelist whose Theatreland Mystery series (Hattie Brings the House Down, Hattie Steals the Show and Hattie Breaks a Leg) is published by Bedford Square.

My first chapter is live: Down on his luck, journalist Jack Sutherland pitches a profile on famous foodie Serendipity Brown, tasked by his editor to uncover her husband Richard's disappearance. Jack arrives at her art nouveau-style estate, Bishops Ridge farm, and is boisterously welcomed by the flame-haired chef. Serendipity settles Jack into her missing husband’s former study, fueling his investigative instincts. Over strong drinks, she invites him to her upcoming cooking demonstrations at her home. My novel: A week-long demo by a famous cook has four guests hide links to her missing husband. A romance with a visiting journnalist uncovers the truth. I'll be posting a chapter at a time on my site. (I hope I'm allowed to post this, @Issy McCann?)

Both of these are incredibally important and literary agents would argue the first para is vital as it has to grab the reader and reel them in. I think last paragraphs are just as important; these are the final thoughts and final interaction with the narrator, author, protagonist/antagonist etc. A beautiful final para will make you feel bereft for leaving the world or the characters. I'm not necessarily talking about a Shyamalan twist, it could just be something simple, subtle. What springs to mind for me is the final para in Sophie's Choice; dreamily descriptive and unassuming.