Jill Dawson nominated for the London Book Award 2012

Jill Dawson has been nominated for the London Book Award 2012 for her novel LUCKY BUNNY.

The London Awards for Art and Performance nominate artists who have made an outstanding contribution to their art. The shortlist will be announced in June 2012.
 

Lucky Bunny, Hodder, August 2011, August 2011

Queenie Dove is a self-proclaimed 'genius' when it comes to thieving and survival. In Lucky Bunny she narrates her colourful life: born into a criminal family in the East End of London during the Depression, Queenie survives the Blitz and the Bethnal Green tube disaster to become an accomplished thief, trained by a group of women shop-lifters before moving on to more glamorous - and lucrative - crimes. Daring, clever and sexy, Queenie takes pride in outwitting the police and surviving on her wits. Despite attempting to go straight after the birth of her daughter, she's tempted by the opportunity to take part in one last, audacious robbery.

Was she a woman more sinned against than sinning? Or wicked through and through? In the spirit of Moll Flanders, Lucky Bunny tells a vivacious tale of trickery and adventure, but one which has a darker undertow of pain and heartbreak than its heroine cares to admit. Yes, luck often favoured her, but that is only part of the story.

Reviews:

'A moving, wonderfully evocative story of love, danger and passionate intensity' Jake Arnott

'I adored Queenie Dove: she is such a force of nature, a compelling character who arrives in the world with nothing to live on except huge reserves of wit. Queenie's sassy optimism and charm is so convincing that all the time I was rooting for her I had to keep reminding myself that this was a novel and not a memoir. It's the best thing I've read for ages.' Polly Samson

'Pacy and atmospheric, this tale of a girl attempting to dictate her own destiny is wickedly good' Eithne Farry, Marie Claire

'Female fictional bandits and rogues often have a novelty value, and Queenie is no exception...Dawson's heroine is so fresh and spirited that she carries the day' Elizabeth Buchan, Sunday Times

'Dawson's eye for period detail is unerring, as Queenie flits glamorously through Mayfair nightclubs and Hackney council estates alike, with namechecks for the Dockers, Diana Dors and the Krays... She bursts out of these pages, longing for life, as we are drawn into her world by Dawson's terse, electric prose. I've seldom read a novel with such a sense of excitement. And the fact that we find ourselves rooting for the wonderfully wicked Queenie through all her uproarious and emotional capers only underlines the subtle and affirming art of her creator.' Philip Hoare, Sunday Telegraph

'Queenie - tiny, whippet-smart, mischievous - is born to crime. Dawson's heroine is so fresh and spirited' Sunday Times

'Dawson, as ever, delves deep into her subject matter, combining fast-paced narrative with astute, piercing reflection on more complex matters... [Her] research into the period is impeccable: everything from shared outdoor lavatories to sleazy Soho nightlife is vividly evoked, and the small details - Nan's mouth bulging with bullseyes; the Second World War posters that urge "Keep Mum, she's not so dumb!"; the variety of ways in which men fraudulently avoided enlistment - transport the reader.' Leyla Sanai, Independent on Sunday

"In Dawson's capable hands, thieving Queenie's story is far more than just crime caper. An award winning poet, Dawson shrewdly uses her heroine's undeniably clever but poorly educated point of view to evocative and sometimes lyrical effect, the author's use of language pure, simple and shimmering." Erikka Askeland, Scotsman

"She leaves us with some unforgettable images: some horrifying, like the wartime night when dozens of Londoners were crushed to death in the underground as they tried to flee German bombs, some beautiful, like the way Queenie's newborn baby's eyes change in days 'from inky blue to the blue of a mussel shell to a lighter, more astonishing colour, vivid as a thread of blue ice in snow'. Lucky Bunny is admirable, too, for the way its fizzing narrative is grounded in a cool-eyed awareness of the social and sexual injustices of the mid-20th century" Independent

'Queenie's voice remains lively and vivid, her story described sensually, full of sound and smell and colour. But what does her chirpy tone hide? A good narrative voice shows the character not just by what they say but by how they say it. So on the face of it Lucky Bunny is a less sober story than, say, Watch Me Disappear, Dawson's extraordinary study of childhood and sexuality. Indeed, it's a treat to read. However, we have warnings from the beginning that Queenie is not necessarily telling us the whole truth.' John Self, Guardian

'Jill Dawson is one of those writers so gifted and assured you relax just five words in. Take me anywhere you like, you say to the book. I'm in your hands. Where Jill takes you here is down the old East End, through a horrid World War II childhood, a spell in jail and hten the glamourous, but seedy underworld of the Fifties. Admittedly it doesn't sound so lucky and heroine Queenie is no angel. But she's resourceful, funny, brave and beautiful. You're on her side from that fifth word I mentioned.' Wendy Holden, Daily Mail