2019 Academy Recommends list announced

6th March, 2019

The Walter Scott Prize Academy is delighted to announce its list of recommended books for 2019.  The Academy comprises people at the centre of literary life in the UK and Commonwealth countries– from bookshop owners and directors of literary festivals to book bloggers and booktubers.  The ‘Academy Recommends’ list is supplementary to the Longlist, and the books on it do not go forward for judging.

Announcing the Academy list, chair of Judges Alistair Moffatt said:

“We are delighted to unveil our Academy’s ‘recommended’ list, offering readers a further selection of twenty superb novels from the UK, Africa, Australia and beyond.  The Walter Scott Prize Academy, expanded this year to include book bloggers and international book festival directors, is playing an important role in bringing superlative historical fiction from further afield to public attention, as well as recognizing home grown talent.”

The Academy Recommends List is:

Love Is Blind  by William Boyd (Viking)

The Prince Of Mirrors  by Alan Robert Clark (Fairlight Books)

The Making Of Martin Sparrow  by Peter Cochrane (Viking Australia)

So Much Life Left Over  by Louis de Bernieres (Harvill Secker)

All Among The Barley  by Melissa Harrison (Bloomsbury)

The Hundred Wells Of Salaga  by Ayesha Harruna Attah (Cassava Republic)

Only Killers And Thieves  by Paul Howarth (Pushkin Press)

Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile  by Alice Jolly (Unbound)

The Black Earth  by Philip Kazan (Allison & Busby)

The Sealwoman’s Gift  by Sally Magnusson (Two Roads)

Mad Blood Stirring  by Simon Mayo (Doubleday)

As The Women Lay Dreaming  by Donald S Murray (Saraband)

Kintu  by Jennifer Nansubaga Makumbi (Oneworld)

The Angel’s Mark  by S W Perry (Corvus)

A View Of The Empire At Sunset  by Caryl Phillips (Vintage)

Painter To The King  by Amy Sackville (Granta)

A Treachery Of Spies  by Manda Scott (Bantam Press)

The Tristan Chord  by Glenn Skwerer (Unbound)

Never Anyone But You  by Rupert Thomson (Corsair)

The Madonna Of The Mountains  by Elise Valmorbida (Faber)

What do you think of our longlist?  Join the debate on twitter, instagram and facebook  #walterscottprize

Read all about the twenty Academy Recommends books, and our Academy members, here.