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Wellington writer Lloyd Jones is surprised at the success of his novel Mister Pip, which is tipped to win one of the world's most coveted literary prizes next week.
The story, set in Papua New Guinea during the civil war of the early 1990s, has already won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Prize for best fiction this year, and now many think it could take home the Man Booker Prize.
"I don't tend to have that sort of hope for a book," Jones says.
"All my hopes and dreams are invested into the writing of the book rather than how it is received."
Jones, 52, who has been in Berlin since the beginning of August on a year-long Creative New Zealand writing fellowship, said he never dreamed Mister Pip would be so successful.
The novel is one of six works short-listed for the prestigious £50,000 ($131,500) award, which will be announced on Tuesday.
If Jones wins he will be the second New Zealander to do so, after Keri Hulme for The Bone People in 1985.
Mister Pip has garnered accolades at home and internationally for its innovative narrative and probing of the clash between "native" and "white man" cultures.
It is narrated by 13-year-old Matilda, who comes to identify with Pip, the protagonist of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, after the novel is read to her class by a teacher.
Jones, who is the brother of property tycoon Sir Robert Jones, said he focused on "literary truth", rather than authenticity, in creating a narrative by a teenage girl.
"Matilda is persuasive because she sounds plausible," he said. "As writers, voice is our chief charm offensive."
Influential Guardian reviewer DJ Taylor has called Mister Pip "a devastating projection of Great Expectations set on a war-torn Pacific Island" and has picked it to win the Man Booker.
British bookmakers are also backing it as a favourite for the prize.
When the shortlist was announced on September 6, the odds for Mister Pip winning jumped from 20/1 to 2/1 at betting agency William Hill.
The book's main competition is previous winner Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach.
