The Orange Prize shortlist:

• The Outcast by Sadie Jones
• Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
• Lottery by Patricia Wood
• When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson
• The Road Home by Rose Tremain
• Fault Lines by Nancy Huston

The prize celebrates fiction by women and is open to any novel written in English. The winner will receive £30,000 (US$58,893) at a ceremony in London's Royal Festival Hall on June 4.

Three authors: Sadie Jones, Heather O'Neiil and Patricia Wood are debut novelists.

Imagine your debut nominated. How would you feel? I think I better go back and rewrite one more time on mine. :)