Amis-free Booker prize longlist promises to 'entertain and provoke'

Martin Amis may be getting heartily sick of people mentioning he's never won the Man Booker. But the wait goes on, after his novel The Pregnant Widow – along with books from Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan – today became the most surprising omission from this year's longlist.

Amis, McEwan's Solar and Rushdie's not yet published Luka and the Fire of Life all failed to make it onto a 13-strong list comprising eight men and five women. This year's judging panel is chaired by the former poet laureate Andrew Motion.

More