The shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction has been announced.
And for the first time in the prize’s 17-year history, all shortlisted authors for the £25,000 prize are British.
Five novels have made the shortlist, announced by Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott and the prize.
The titles are:
The Pretender by Jo Harkin (Bloomsbury)
The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly (Bloomsbury)
Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Polygon)
Once the Deed is Done by Rachel Seiffert (Virago)
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (Viking)
The novels span nearly five centuries of history, from the English Wars of the Roses in the 1480s through to 1950s coastal England, taking in Austria and Germany during the Second World War and a true crime committed on a Hebridean island along the way.
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“The five shortlisted novels for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize probe intimate lives lived in both small and big settings,” the judges said. “Readers will hear voices usually unheard but which, once heard, won’t be forgotten… our five authors are storytellers, so if you like a good story, the 2026 Walter Scott Prize shortlist is one you won’t want to miss.”
The panel was chaired by writer Katie Grant and included previous Young Walter Scott Prize winner Rosi Byard-Jones, bookshop owner Rosamund de la Hey, art historian James Holloway, children’s author Elizabeth Laird, and broadcaster James Naughtie, who also narrated a shortlist announcement video.
This was filmed at Abbotsford and featured the five books revealed across the house’s gardens, library, drawing room and study.
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The winner will be announced on June 12 at a live event during the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, hosted by Sir Walter Scott’s great-great-great-great grandson, Matthew Maxwell Scott, alongside prize founder and patron the Duke of Buccleuch.
Tickets go on sale on April 22 through the Borders Book Festival box office.
Each shortlisted author receives £1,500, with the winner taking home £25,000. To be eligible, books must be written in English, largely set more than 60 years ago, and published during 2025 in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth.
Credit: bordertelegraph
