BOOKWORMS across the Borders with an interest in historical fiction have plenty to sink their teeth into after the longlist for a book awards was announced.
A total of 13 books have been selected in the longlist for the 2018 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
The books were whittled down after judges received the largest number of entries in the prize’s eight-year history – an increase of 40 per cent on last year.
First awarded in 2010, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction honours the inventor of the historical fiction genre, Sir Walter Scott, and is sponsored by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.
Previous winners include Hilary Mantel, Andrea Levy, Sebastian Barry, Tan Twan Eng, Robert Harris, John Spurling, and Simon Mawer. Last year’s winning book was ‘Days Without End’ by Sebastian Barry, making him the first double prize-winner.
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is open to books published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth.
The judges of the 2018 Prize are Alistair Moffat (chairman), Elizabeth Buccleuch, Elizabeth Laird, Kate Figes, Katharine Grant, James Holloway, James Naughtie and Kirsty Wark.
The panel will choose a shortlist in April, and a winner will be announced at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose on June 15.
The winner receives £25,000, while each shortlisted author receives £1,000, making the Walter Scott Prize amongst the richest fiction prizes in the UK.
The longlist
The Clocks In This House All Tell Different Times by Xan Brooks (Salt)
Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore (Hutchinson)
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Corsair)
The Last Man In Europe by Dennis Glover (Black Inc Books)
Sugar Money by Jane Harris (Faber)
Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
The Draughtsman by Robert Lautner (Borough Press)
Grace by Paul Lynch (Oneworld)
The Wardrobe Mistress by Patrick McGrath (Hutchinson)
Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik (Fig Tree)
The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers (Bluemoose Books)
The Horseman by Tim Pears (Bloomsbury)
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury)
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