Instructions for a Heatwave
British novelist, born 1972. Won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, the British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year in 2021 and the Costa Novel Award in 2010.
Instructions for a Heatwave is a 2013 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award in 2013.
In family saga
On 2 of the 18 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Maggie O'Farrell
- First published
- 2013
- Length
- 352 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- Costa Novel Award shortlist, 2013
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Family saga, Migration and identity
Is Instructions for a Heatwave worth reading?
2 of the 18 best-of lists it could have made include it: the Costa Novel Award and Richard & Judy Book Club picks.
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| Costa (Whitbread) Novel Award (winners and shortlists) (Costa, 2013) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Richard & Judy Book Club picks (Richard & Judy / WHSmith, 2004-) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Instructions for a Heatwave
The edition we link to is the Tinder Press paperback (2025), 352 pages.
- Publisher
- Tinder Press (paperback, 2025)
- Pages
- 352
- ISBN
- 9781035430109
How critics, prizes and readers rate Instructions for a Heatwave
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 13% of the points available on prize lists, against 6% on readers' and booksellers' lists and 0% on critics' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Instructions for a Heatwave
If you liked Instructions for a Heatwave, try Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait or This Must Be the Place.
