THE BOOKER AND MORE


In an exceptional year for Scottish writing, Douglas Stuart’s moving début Shuggie Bain (Picador) picked up the prestigious Booker Prize, and a raft of outstanding Scottish based writers found awards success beyond this. Here is a round-up of publications which won or were shortlisted for literary prizes last year.


SHORTLISTED THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION


To Calais, In Ordinary Time James Meek Canongate Set in 1348, To Calais, In Ordinary Time is the story of a serf, a nobleman’s daughter and a proctor, all living through a decisive moment in the Hundred Years’ War. This historical moral fable explores myths of England and Englishness, love, and our ways of trying to order and understand the past.


WINNER THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION


Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellman Galley Beggar Press At 1,020 pages long, this complex masterpiece is not for the faint of heart. But anyone who reads this work, constructed in eight endlessly extending sentences, will find a rich stream-of- consciousness that provokes questions about what narrative is, how it is made and how we connect with it.


SHORTLISTED THE JHALAK PRIZE


The Black Flamingo Dean Atta; Anshika Khulllar (illus) Hachette Children’s Group The Black Flamingo is an intimate, exploratory, coming-of-age verse novel. Michael’s story explores coming out and the power of drag, where performance can become freedom. Atta’s experience as a poet and performer truly enriches this exciting work.


WINNER THE WOMENS PRIZE FOR FICTION Hamnet


Maggie O’Farrell Tinder Press This tender exploration of the death of William Shakespeare’s young son Hamnet tells a familiar story from a new perspec- tive and with a different kind of lyricism. Its depictions of grief, the roles of women and the natural world sit alongside subtle explorations of Shakespearean tropes and the playwright’s legacy.


WINNER THE MCILVANNEY PRIZE FOR CRIME FICTION


Pine Frances Toon Penguin


Pine is an uncomfortable crime novel set in the Scottish Highlands. Lauren, aged 10, lives alone with her father since her mother’s disappearance. She keeps seeing the shadow of a gaunt woman and soon, the whole rural community is thrown into disarray. A spine-chilling, gothic page-turner.


WINNER THE HISTORICAL WRITERS ASSOCIATION DÉBUT CROWN AWARD


The Animals at Lockwood Manor Jane Healey Mantle This dark story tells us of Hetty Cartwright’s experiences of evacuating the mammals from the Natural History museum. However, when she arrives with the animals at Lockwood Manor, she realises there is more to this arrangement than she had realised. A gripping, atmospheric début.


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