"They sort of sprout out in all sorts of directions. "Long years of not being able to write mean I have all sorts of documents on my laptop which unfortunately have become like unruly shrubs in a garden," she said. She said she has not abandoned hope of finishing it. author Claire Fuller's "Unsettled Ground." Clarke's illness meant she had to shelve a much-anticipated sequel to "Jonathan Strange," a rich, sprawling novel steeped in historical research. writer Patricia Lockwood's 'No One is Talking About This', 'Transcendent Kingdom', by Ghanaian-American writer Yaa Gyasi, Barbadian writer Cherie Jones' "How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House" and U.K. had been whisked back to her home in Mexico by the forceful Leon Calveto. This year's other finalists were American author Brit Bennett's 'The Vanishing Half', U.S. For, against her better judgement, Nita soon found herself falling in love. Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Maggie O'Farrell. Novelist Bernardine Evaristo, who chaired the Women's Prize judging panel, said Clarke had "created a world beyond our wildest imagination that also tells us something profound about what it is to be human." Clarke was one of two British authors among six finalists for the prize, founded in 1996 and open to female English-language writers from around the world. It was perhaps one of the few things that has stayed the same about me." The things that fascinated me and the landscapes in which I wanted to wander, that remained the same.
"But when I got better enough to be able to work fairly consistently, my cast of mind, my imagination, was not changed. I never thought I would be well enough." "For a long time, I had brain fog, and you cannot write a novel if you can get no consistency of work and you can't build on the work you did yesterday or a few days ago," Clarke told The Associated Press. She said 'Piranesi' was "the book I never thought I would get to write. 'Piranesi' was published in 2020, as much of the world was experiencing lockdown, isolation and dislocation because of the coronavirus pandemic, and struck a chord with many readers and critics. Clarke has said that work on the follow-up was slowed by illness, as she struggled with chronic fatigue syndrome. Clarke's first novel, an epic magical saga, was published to acclaim in 2004, sold more than 4 million copies and was adapted for television by the BBC.