British author David Mitchell is tipped as 5-1 favourite to win the Booker prize, one of the literary world's most prestigious awards.
The author of Black Swan Green, a critically acclaimed rites-of-passage novel about a 13-year-old boy, headed a list of 19 novels in contention for the prize, chosen from 112 entries.
"Top of the Booker pops is David Mitchell. He thoroughly deserves to win it after being robbed with Cloud Atlas two years ago by Alan Hollinghurst's Line of Beauty," said Graham Sharpe, spokesman for bookmakers William Hill.
Second favourite is Australian Peter Carey, who won in 1988 and 2001. He is being considered for his latest novel Theft: A Love Story.
"The first lady in our list is Sarah Waters at 7-1. Barry Unsworth, who is also a former winner, is 8-1," Sharpe told Reuters.
Chairwoman of the judges Hermione Lee said: "It's a list in which famous, established novelists rub shoulders with little-known newcomers. We hope that people will leap at it for their late summer reading and make up their own shortlist."
The prize, founded in 1969, rewards the best book of the year by a writer from Britain, Ireland or a Commonwealth country and guarantees the winner instant literary fame and a place in bestseller lists around the world.
The short list for the prize will be published on September 14 and the winner will be announced on October 10.
Irish writer John Banville won the award last year for his poignant and dark novel about childhood memories, The Sea.
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