Fifteen in early running to win Sir Walter Scott historical fiction award

THE longlist for a Scottish book prize for novels set 60 years or more in the past has been revealed.

Fifteen books, including The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis and novels by Damon Galgut, Esther Freud and others are on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. The longlist is being published for the first time since the award was established five years ago.

The prize is funded by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, distant relatives of Sir Walter Scott. The winner receives £25,000. Previous winners of the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction are Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2010), The Long Song by Andrea Levy (2011), On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry (2012), The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (2013), and An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (2014). The award’s defini- tion of a “historical” novel is where the “majority of events described take place at least 60 years ago.” This definition comes from Walter Scott’s subtitle for Waverley: “Tis Sixty Years Since”. A shortlist event will be held on March 24. Longlisted novels include Amis’s work, set in a Nazi death camp, The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry, The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, The Lie by Helen Dunmore, Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre, In the Wolf’s Mouth by Adam Foulds, and The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. The prize money is one of the highest in the UK: The Booker Prize winner is given a prize of £50,000 and the winner of the Costa book award wins £30,000.

Alistair Moffat, judges chairman, said: “The quality of the historical novels published in 2014 has been exceptional.”