About this list

Guardian, 51 Books

During the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2003 - now known as the Women's Prize for Fiction - a poll was done to determine the UK's 50 best loved novels written by a woman, past or present, in English and published in the UK. The results were compiled by public vote. Over 6,000 votes were collected via text message, voting cards in public libraries and Orange Retail Shops, the Orange Prize for Fiction website and a promotion with Classic FM. Kate Mosse, the co-founder of the Orange Prize for Fiction... said: "Our aim was to encourage as a wide a range of readers to vote as possible and to see which contemporary novels found their place among the classics".
The result was an interesting mix of venerable classics and newer favorites, e.g. Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility shared position 23 with Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding.
More info about the list can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/12/books.booksnews

This list was originally published in 2003 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.