What came next involved a symphony of organisation – copies of the 120-odd books needed to be sent around East Anglia to Readers’ Circle members in Norfolk, Cambridge and Suffolk, spreadsheets were designed, and surveys were created. Then the Readers’ Circle, our hundred plus eager volunteer readers, began to read and review the books.

When we read to choose the Brave New Reads books, we look for originality, brilliance (of prose and plot), and excitement. We ask the Readers’ Circle to rate the books according to green, amber, red and to send us short reviews too. And then we create huge spreadsheets using the data, marking top choices and average ratings. (Find out more about the process in this blog on Cutting the Longlist or in Recommended by the Readers’ Circle.)

After five months of reading, we’d collected over one thousand reviews, and managed to cut down the very long list to a shortlist of just under forty books. We’d heard from readers in Ely, Swaffham, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and from many other towns and cities across East Anglia. And then it was time for us to meet and make a decision.