Shortlist Announced for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

This year marks the fourth £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, and the shortlist has been announced today. 

Six novels have been chose, with settings ranging from Tudor and Restoration England, the slums of Victorian London, and the bloody battlefields of the Western Front in World War One. The list shows a great diversity of setting in both time and place.

The shortlist is:

Toby’s Room by Pat Barker

The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

The Streets by Anthony Quinn

The Garden of Evening Mist by Tan Twan Eng

Merivel by Rose Tremain

This year’s shortlist, contains fantastic writing with some unexpected stories which challenge understanding of history. These books are by authors from Australia and Malaysia, as well as from England, strengthening the international dimension brought to the prize by last year’s opening up of the rules to include writers from the Commonwealth.

The Walter Scott Prize, founded in 2009 by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and awarded at the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival in June, is the largest annual UK prize to be judged outside London, and honours the legacy and achievements of Sir Walter Scott, founder of the historical novel. 

To read more about the list of exciting books and the judges comments, follow this link to the Edinburgh Reporter Website. 

If you have an idea for a great historical novel, but you are not sure where to start, visit us at Words Worth Reading Ltd to find out how we can get you on the right track with our mentoring service.

Image: miamism, Flickr