Congratulations to Stacey Halls, whose novel Mrs England has been nominated for the 2022 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction!

Thirteen novels are in contention for the £25,000 prize, with settings spanning from the 8th century BC up to the 1960s, and from all four nations of the United Kingdom to Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, the West Indies and the Punjab.

The judges commented: “We may have been more confined in recent years, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the same cannot be said for our imaginations.  This year’s longlist is as globetrotting as it is time-travelling – a testament to the power of great fiction to explore less-familiar worlds, regardless of physical travel constraints. Ambition, originality and innovation are what we look for, and are what we found in abundance among the submissions this year – along with the fine writing that is a prerequisite.”

The shortlist will be announced in April, and a winner announced in mid-June at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland (16th-19th June).  More details about the books nominated are on the longlist page.