I’m truly delighted and honoured to have been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018, and in such brilliant company.  The short list was announced on the 17 April and the winner will be announced and presented at Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival, Melrose on 16 June.

This is what the judges said:

Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik

“Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves is a quietly beautiful and brilliant novel that captures the heart and essence of a love story in the years during and after the Second World War. Astonishingly, it is Rachel Malik’s debut, and her handling of the richness and simplicity of this story of farming life suggests that she is on the brink of a distinguished literary career.  And this is no bucolic idyll but an unfolding of a plot that constantly twists and turns and surprises.  A truly wonderful, memorable novel.”

I did a short Q&A about writing historically:

http://www.walterscottprize.co.uk/shortlist-spotlight-rachel-malik/

You can read more about the prize, previous winners, including Hilary Mantel and Sebastian Barry, and this year’s short-list here:

http://www.walterscottprize.co.uk

I will be joining other short-listed writers in discussion about historical fiction at the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival, Melrose on Friday 15 June.