And the winner is... 40 years later. The 22 authors on the Lost Man Booker Prize longlist have waited a long time to contend for the best novel published in 1970. Included among this distinguished group are Patrick O'Brian, Iris Murdoch, Ruth Rendell and David Lodge.

The Guardian reported that the new award "aims to commemorate the works that 'fell through the net' in 1970 after changes to the Booker rules. In 1971, two years after the prize was first given, it ceased to be awarded retrospectively and became, as it is now, a prize for the best novel in the year of publication. The date on which the award was given was also moved from April to November, creating a gap when a wealth of 1970 fiction could not be eligible." The shortlist will be announced in March and the winner named in May. The longlist:

• The Hand Reared Boy by Brian Aldiss
• A Little of What You Fancy? by H.E. Bates
• The Birds on the Trees by Bawden
• A Place in England by Melvyn Bragg
• Down All the Days by Christy Brown
• Bomber by Len Deighton
• Troubles by J.G. Farrell
• The Circle by Elaine Feinstein
• The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard
• A Clubbable Woman by Reginald Hill
• I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill
• A Domestic Animal by Francis King
• The Fire Dwellers by Margaret Laurence
• Out of the Shelter by David Lodge
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch
• Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul
• Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
• Head to Toe by Joe Orton
• Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
• A Guilty Thing Surprised by Ruth Rendell
• The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
• The Vivisector by Patrick White