Dave's Book Blog: Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

This £25,000 prize is awarded for fiction set more than 60 years ago.

2010

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, featuring Thomas Cromwell, set in Tudor England (winner)
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant, set in an Italian convent during the 1500s
The Quickening Maze by Adam Faulds, featuring John Clare and Alfred Tennyson, set in England during the 1800s
Lustrum by Robert Harris, featuring Cicero, set in the last days of the Roman Republic
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer, set in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s
Stone's Fall by Iain Pears, set during the early 1900s
Hodd by Adam Thorpe, featuring Robin Hood, set in mediaeval
England

2011

The Long Song by Andrea Levy, set in nineteenth century Jamaica (winner)
C by Tom McCarthy, set in Europe in the 1900s
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell set in Japan during Shogun times
Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor, set in England and Ireland during the 1900s
Heartstone by C J Sansom, set in England in 1545
To Kill a Tsar by Andrew Williams, set in St Petersburg c 1900

2012

On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry, set in twentieth century Ireland and Chicago (winner)
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, set in Europe during the second world war
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst, set in Europe during the first world war
Pure by Andrew Miller, set in Paris in 1786
The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth, set in 1767 in London and a Durham mining village
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt, set in 1851 in Oregon and California

2013:

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, set in Malaya in the 1940s and 1950s (winner)
Toby's Room by Pat Barker, set during the first world war
The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally, set during the first world war
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, featuring Thomas
Cromwell, set in Tudor England
The Streets by Anthony Quinn, set in London during the 1880s
Merivel: A Man of His Time by Rose Tremain, set in England during the Restoration

2014:

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, about the Dreyfus Affair in France during the 1890s (winner)
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson set during the 20th century
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton set in New Zealand during the 1800s gold rush
Harvest by Jim Crace set in an English village during the 1700s
Fair Helen by Andrew Grieg, set in the Scottish borders during the 1590s
The Promise by Ann Weisgarber set in Galveston during the hurricane of 1900

2015:

2016:

Tightrope by Simon Mawer set in France during the second wolrd war (winner)
Sweet Caress by William Boyd set during the 1900s
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale set in Saskatchewan during the early 1900s
End Games in Bordeaux by Allan Massie set in France during the second world war
Mrs Engels by Gavin McCrea set in England during the 1800s
Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar set in Australia during the 1800s

2017

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry set during the US Civil War (winner)
A Country Road, a Tree by Jo Baker set in France during the second world war
The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson set in Soviet Russia during the 1900s
The Good People by Hannah Kent set in Ireland during the 1800s
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford set in New York during the 1700s
Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift set in 1924
The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain set in Switzerland during the second world war

2018:

2019:

The Long Take by Robin Robertson set in America following the second world war (winner)
A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey set in Australia during the 1950s
After the Party by Cressida Connolly set in England in 1938
The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey set in 1491
Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller set in Spain in 1809
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje set in London in 1945

2020:

The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey set in Cape Cod during the 1950s (winner)
The Parisian by Isabella Hammad set in Europe and Palestine before the first world war
To Calais in Ordinary Time by James Meek set in England during the 1300s
Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor set in London during 1878
The Redeemed by Tim Pears set in South West England during world war one
A Sin of Omission by Marguerite Pond set in South Africa and England during the late 1800s

2021

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel about Thomas Crowmwell in Tudor England (winner)
The Tolstoy Estate in Steven Conte set in Russia in 1812 and then 1941
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville set in Austalia during the early days of the colony
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell set in Stratford-upon-Avon in the late 1500s
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams set in Oxford in the late 19th and early 20th century

2022:

2023:

These Days by Lucy Caldwell set in Belfast during the 1940s (winner)
The Geometer Lobochevsky by Adrian Duncan set in rural Ireland during the 1800s
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris set in England during the 1600s.
The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry featuring Thomas Hardy in England during the 1800s
The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane set in South Australia during the 1800s
Ancestry by Simon Mawer set in Crimea and England during the 1850s
I am not your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam featuring Paul Gaugin in Tahiti during the 1800s

2024:

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein set in Trinidad in the 1940s (winner)
The New Life by Tom Crewe set in London's gay community during the 1890s
My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor set in Rome during the second world war
In The Upper Country by Kai Thomas set in Ontario during the 1800s
Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain set in London and paris during the 1960s
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng set in Malaysia during the early 1900s

2025:

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller set in England during 1962 - 1963 (winner)
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry set in Montana during the 1890s
The Mare by Angharad Hampshire about a Nazi war criminal
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay set in Britain during the reign of Henry VIII
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon set in Sicily during the Peloponnesian War
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden set in Holland during the 1960s.

2026:

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