Novels by Samantha Harvey, Charlotte Wood, Yael van der Wouden and Percival Everett also feature on the shortlist, which was announced at an event held at Somerset House in London last night.
Judging chair Edmund de Waal, an artist and author, said that, while the shortlisted titles reveal the "faultlines of our times", they are not "books about issues".
Harvey, the only British writer to make the shortlist, was selected for Orbital, which follows six astronauts onboard the International Space Station across the course of a day. Harvey "takes on the imaginative athletics of finding language for this optical feasting and metaphysical reflection" in a book that "offers vehement appreciation of the world", Alexandra Harris wrote in her Guardian review.
The winner of the prize - which honours the best work of English fiction by authors of any nationality and published in the UK and/or Ireland will be announced on 12 November.
They will receive £50,000. Each shortlisted writer receives £2,500.
Many of the shortlisted books have strong historical elements. Everett, the American author of more than 20 novels, was chosen for James, a retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim.
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