26a (2006 Winner Of Orange Award For New Writers)

Description:
Identical twins, Georgia and Bessi, live in the loft of 26 Waifer Avenue. It is a place of beanbags, nectarines and secrets, and visitors must always knock before entering. Down below there is not such harmony. Their Nigerian mother puts cayenne pepper on her Yorkshire pudding and has mysterious ways of dealing with homesickness; their father angrily roams the streets of Neasden, prey to the demons of his Derbyshire upbringing. Forced to create their own identities, the Hunter children build a separate universe. Older sister Bel discovers sex, high heels and organic hairdressing, the twins prepare for a flapjack empire, while baby sister Kemy learns to moonwalk for Michael Jackson. It is when the reality comes knocking that the fantasies of childhood start to give way. How will Georgia and Bessi cope in a world of separateness and solitude, and which of them will be stronger? Wickedly funny and devastatingly moving, '26A' is an extraordinary first novel. Part fairytale, part nightmare, it moves from the mundane to the magical, the particular to the universal with exceptional flair and imagination. It is for anyone who has had a childhood, and anyone who knows what it is to lose one. It is a winner of the 2005 Orange New Writers Prize. Diana Evans won the 2006 British Books Awards Writer of the Year.

Prizes:
Winner of Orange Award for New Writers 2005.
Winner of British Book Awards: Writer of the Year 2006.
Shortlisted for Whitbread Book Awards: First Novel Category 2005.

Author Biography:
Diana Evans is a graduate of the University of East Anglia's Creative Writing MA and has published short fiction in a number of anthologies. She has worked as a journalist and arts critic for Marie Claire, the Evening Standard, The Source and Pride magazine, and writes regularly for the Independent and the Stage. She lives in West London.