The relaunched Winston Graham Historical Prize, for a work of historical fiction with a powerful sense of place’, has announced its 2024 shortlist with an exciting range of literature.

Charlotte Hobson, author and Chair of the Judges this year, says, “This is the first year we’ve run the Winston Graham Prize as a nationwide prize with the emphasis on a sense of place. The hope was that by throwing the net wide, we’d come up with a shortlist to demonstrate the best of historical fiction being published in the UK and Ireland today. Well, that hope has been more than fulfilled.

“The sheer variety and boldness of style are thrilling. Gone are the days when the historical novel was considered a poor cousin to the contemporary novel – shortlisted are six of the most original and extraordinary storytellers writing today, and they’ve chosen the historical novel as their form.”

The six shortlisted works are:

CUDDY by Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury)

THE WHALEBONE THEATRE by Joanna Quinn (Penguin)

THE MIDNIGHT NEWS by Jo Baker (Phoenix)

NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR FROM HELL by Alan Warner (Birlinn)

MUSIC IN THE DARK by Sally Magnusson (John Murray)

A WILD AND TRUE RELATION by Kim Sherwood (Virago)

The panel of judges include father of the contemporary historical novel, Louis de Bernieres and award-winning novelist and poet A. K. Blakemore. The winner will be announced at an Award Ceremony at the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, on March 22, 2024.