Today the official shortlist for the Winston Graham Historical Prize has been revealed, featuring six captivating and vastly different historical novels set in the UK and Ireland with a powerful sense of place.
The annual prize is the result of a bequest made to the Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) by Poldark author Winston Graham himself, to enable the best historical fiction to be sought out and celebrated.
The RIC is the charity which operates Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, and it is at the recently reopened museum that the eventual winner of the £3,000 prize will be announced.
The shortlist presents a rich and notably diverse array of fiction set in the past, all published in the past 12 months. Here at the museum we eagerly anticipate the release of the shortlist each year, as it provides us with the ultimate reading list for the summer ahead. Once again there are some really exciting pieces of contemporary writing here which reshape how we see the past – something we strive to do through our own storytelling across our galleries and collections.
A readers’ committee has whittled the entries down to those below, with a panel of expert judges set to choose the ultimate winner ahead of the award ceremony on 11th June.
Of the shortlist, Chair of the Judges Charlotte Hobson commented: “It’s excitingly varied, strange and wonderful, with some well-known names as well as two debut novelists, and takes us from the life of a medieval Gleeman right up to the big freeze of the 1960s. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our passionate and dedicated Readers’ Committee for their work in getting us to this point – their enthusiasm reminds us what sheer pleasure the best historical fiction provides. Now it’s over to us judges to make what I’m sure will be a very tough final decision.”
Winston Graham Historical Prize Shortlist, 2025
Mother Naked, Glen James Brown
1. Mother Naked by Glen James Brown, published by Peninsula Press.
From Peninsula Press, Mother Naked by Glen James Brown was inspired by a single payment entered into Durham’s Cathedral rolls during the time of the Black Death and the Peasant’s Revolt and takes a wandering minstrel – a master storyteller in disguise – as its protagonist.
Whale Fall, Elizabeth O’Connor
2. Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor, published by Picador.
Set on another far-flung island, this time off the coast of Wales, Whale Fall is a debut novel by Elizabeth O’Connor published by Picador; it powerfully addresses themes of belonging and betrayal, as the spectre of the Second World War looms in the background.
Clear, Carys Davies
3. Clear by Carys Davies, published by Granta.
Meanwhile, 19th century Shetland forms the backdrop to Clear by Carys Davies, published by Granta Books; dark and captivating, this is a tale of isolation broken by unexpected and powerful human connection, played out against the dramatic landscape of a rugged and remote Scottish isle.
The Book of Days, Francesca Kay
4. The Book of Days by Francesca Kay, published by Swift Press.
Also set in Tudor England, Francesca Kay’s The Book of Days, published by Swift Press, transports the reader to a manor house where a noble woman takes solace in nature and the seasons as her husband’s life ebbs away, and the Reformation unfolds around them.
The Land in Winter, Andrew Miller
5. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller, published by Sceptre.
Andrew Miller features on the shortlist with The Land in Winter, published by Sceptre; set in a small village in South West England during one of the coldest winters on recent record – 1962-3 – this haunting read presses pause on the monotony of daily life, instead diving headlong into the forgotten recesses of the human heart.
A Little Trickerie, by Rosanna Pike
6. A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike, published by Fig Tree.
A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike, published by Fig Tree, is also on the shortlist; this debut novel follows vagabond Tibb Ingleby through the forests and fields of medieval England, as she and a cast of ragtag characters plan an audacious hoax to escape the shackles of social injustice.
We’ll be announcing the winner on 11th June, but in the meantime why not read your own way through the shortlist and let us know your thoughts?