Personal Holocaust story on Man Booker longlist

Her book, Far To Go, tells the story of the Bauers, a secular Jewish Czech family against the background of the Nazi invasion of the country.

The book follows the antisemitism of the time and the family's personal struggles, as well as the experience of a child's escape to England on the Kindertransport. In a review in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, it was described as "not your ordinary Holocaust novel".

Ms Pick told The Forward that she wanted to explore the historical circumstances her grandparents had lived in. However she said that beyond the surface details "the fate of the characters is very different from my grandparents' eventual fate".

The judging panel, chaired by the former chief of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington, will announce the shortlist on September 6.

Last year's winner, for the comic novel The Finkler Question, was Howard Jacobson. Sales of the book were boosted by his win; more than 250,000 copies have been sold in the UK alone.