Royals

Judges' comments

Shannon is trapped in a shopping mall with five strangers (and one unchaperoned baby), after an unspecified glitch in reality sees the disparate group cut off from the outside world. The six teenagers adapt fast to cope with the frightening scenario, construct a functional daily life and take care of ‘Juno’ the baby. Effortlessly making the impossible premise credible, and avoiding the well-trodden route into Lord of the Flies-style chaos, Tegan Bennett Daylight has created something more complex, nebulous and wonderful.

The cast reflects a broad diversity of youthful experience and identity, and makes the most of this by excavating difference with a clear gaze and light authorial hand. Without phones, social media or the internet, but with access to the staggering bounty of the mall, the teens are forced into the strange exercise of gorging on consumer goods while reflecting on their outside lives. As the events of the novel begin to swell and warp, the true depths of this subtle novel are revealed.