Jemma Wayne has been longlisted for the £30,000 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction for her debut novel After Before.

Ms Wayne joins 19 other writers, including Sarah Waters, Rachel Cusk and Anne Tyler.

She said she was “thrilled.

“It’s a real honour to be in such great company."

Her book is about three women facing profound challenges in their lives.

Shami Chakrabarti, chair of judges, said the longlist was a particularly strong one, “with its mix of genres and styles, first-timers and well-known names from around the world”.

The judges will select a shortlist of six writers in April before announcing an overall winner on June 3.

The prize was set up in 1996 and was previously called the Orange Prize. It is the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by women.

Previous winners have included include Zadie Smith for On Beauty, Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin and Andrea Levy for Small Island.