Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist 2026 | The Others - Sheena Kalayil

It is 1989, and in a small Baltic city in East Germany, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, three young people from vastly different backgrounds become friends. Armando is a factory worker from Mozambique, Lolita is a medical student from India, and Theo is an East Berliner who dreams of being a writer. When Armando and Lolita make a grisly discovery, they find themselves caught up in the politics of Theo’s homeland more than ever before.

While a quiet revolution sweeps through Eastern Europe, and the Berlin Wall teeters, the three find themselves entangled in a poignant love triangle which threatens their futures. As the world order shifts, their three lives are bound together in a web of love, lies and fears, leaving each irrevocably changed.