Kate Atkinson gained sudden prominence as an important contemporary British novelist when her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the prestigious Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 1995, overcoming formidable competition that included well-established figures such as Salman Rushdie. Atkinson's arrival caused something of a stir with sensationalist headlines appearing in the press, such as that in The Guardian (24 January 1996) remarking that an unknown writer described as "a 44-year-old chambermaid" had won one of the leading British literary awards.

In fact, Atkinson was neither a chambermaid nor entirely unknown, since she had won her first major literary prize in 1993, when her characteristically quirkily titled short story, "Karmic Mothers--Fact or Fiction"" won the prestigious Ian St James Award for short fiction. Five years before that she had won a short-story competition in Woman's Own, a national British women's magazine, with "In China." The critical reception of...