One of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, honors the achievements of the historical novel's founding father.
A British literary award for historical fiction, the Walter Scott Prize, was established in 2010. It is one of the UK's largest literary awards, worth £25,000.
At the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Belfast author Lucy Caldwell won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction in 2023.
Winner of 2023
Her novel These Days, a story about love and loss set during the Second World War's aerial bombardment of her home city, won her the £25,000 prize.
Her winning piece was praised by the award's panel of judges for having a "pitch-perfect, engrossing narrative ringing with emotional truth."
The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan, Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris, and The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry were the other books on the short list for the award.
April, 1941. So far, Belfast has escaped the worst of the war. It will be destroyed from above over the next two months, causing people to scream in terror, "My God, Belfast is finished."
About the Book
No one who makes it will remain unchanged, and many won't make it.
Following the lives of sisters Emma and Audrey, one of whom is getting married and the other is secretly dating another woman,
These Days is a timeless and heartbreaking novel about living under duress, family, and how we try to stay true to ourselves as they try to survive the Belfast Blitz's four nights of bombing.
"A story of both great violence and great tenderness," the judges described Ms. Caldwell's novel.