Books vie for £25,000 prize

THE shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction has been announced.

Books in the running for the £25,000 prize are Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan,

Sugar Money by Jane Harris, Grace by Paul Lynch, The Wardrobe Mistress by Patrick Mcgrath, Rachel Malik’s Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves, and Benjamin Myers’s The Gallows Pole.

The winner will be announced at the Borders Book Festival on June 16.

The Walter Scott Prize, which celebrates its tenth anniversary next year, was founded by patrons the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.

The winner receives £25,000, and shortlisted authors each receive £1,000.

Books have to be set at least 60 years in the past to qualify for the prize. www.walterscottprize.co.uk