Two Australian writers are in the running for this year's Man Booker Prize for Fiction but British critics have expressed surprise that several big-name Australian authors are missing from the long list announced in London this week.
Michelle de Kretser (The Lost Dog) and first-time novelist Steve Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole) are among 13 authors selected from 112 entries for the highest-profile literary award in the English-speaking world.
But several Australian big hitters missed out. The Guardian notes that the list ignores predicted favourites such as Tim Winton and Peter Carey, and The Independent says ''notable absentees'' are ''a formidable trio of Australian fictions: Helen Garner's The Spare Room; Alexis Wright's Carpentaria; Tim Winton's Breath''.
But Independent literary editor Boyd Tonkin applauds the fact that the judges ''have saluted the awesomely smart and agile writing'' of De Kretser in The Lost Dog, and predicts she will make it to the short list.
The Guardian's Michelle Pauli sides with Toltz, describing his novel as an ''exceptionally confident debut ... likely to be a favourite to go to the next round''.
The judges have selected five first novels and two novels by former winners Salman Rushdie and John Berger.
Rushdie is tipped to go through to the next stage with The Enchantress of Florence, as is Irish-born author Joseph O'Neill, whose novel on cricket in New York, Netherland, has had rave reviews in the United States, Britain and elsewhere.
Michael Portillo, who chairs the judging panel, said this year's entries had exhibited two qualities ''large-scale narrative and the striking use of humour''.
Sri Lankan-born De Kretser, who lives in Melbourne, emigrated to Australia in her teens. She is the author of two other novels The Rose Grower and The Hamilton Case.
The Lost Dog is a multi-layered work, part love story, part mystery, centred on a Melbourne academic's search for a lost dog.
It won the Christina Stead Prize for fiction and was named Book of the Year in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards this year.
Sydney-born Toltz burst on to the literary scene earlier this year with his 700-page The Fraction of a Whole, which attracted notices such as ''a kaleidoscope of a novel'', ''a narrative roller-coaster'', ''exuberant'' and ''effervescent''.
The short list will be announced in London on September 9 and the winner on October 14.