Finalists for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Here are this year's five finalists for the $10,000 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize:

• American Rust by Philipp Meyer (Spiegel & Grau)
• The Cradle by Patrick Somerville (Little, Brown and Co.)
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press)
• The Vagrants by Yivun Lin (Random House)
• Woodsburner by John Pipkin from (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese)

I’m glad to see one title from a small publisher on the list (Tinkers). Last year’s winner was Hannah Tinti’s The Good Thief.