The 2026 Longlist
The 2026 Longlist flies readers from wind-battered Cumbrian landscapes to the shifting seascapes of the north-west coast of England; from the uncharted Canadian Northwest to the Latin American Colonies; from the Australian city of Brisbane, briefly called Edenglassie, to Glasgow and the Hebridean island of Benbecula. We experience a treacherous Venice, a stifling Provence, an England rocked by royal Pretenders, Vienna at the dark dawn of World War II, and the haunting and haunted complexities of Germany as that war draws to an end.
Here is more information on each of the twelve books; please follow us on social media for exclusive author interviews, videos and book giveaways!
VENETIAN VESPERS John Banville
The turn-of-the-twentieth-century tale of English journalist, Evelyn Dolman, whose delayed honeymoon in Venice following his marriage to American heiress Laura Rensselaer falls victim to the tradition of the romantic curse of the city. The pair eventually take up residence in the sinister Palazzo Dioscuri, a stone’s throw from St Mark’s. From the outset, narrator and protagonist Evelyn warns us to expect something disquieting amid the brooding atmosphere of Venice’s wintry chill, so beloved by writers throughout the ages.
THE TWO ROBERTS Damian Barr
Scotland, 1933 and, on his first day at Glasgow School of Art, Bobby MacBryde will meet another Robert – and will never leave his side. Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun’s intertwined story is one of art and class, devotion and obsession. As they together devour 1930s hidden Glasgow, they must also hide their love for each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their now almost-forgotten artistic talents take them all over Europe, and as the continent explodes under WW2 bombs, the bright stars of MacBryde and Colquhoun will also burn, as they pay the devastating price for trying to change the world.
EDEN’S SHORE Oisín Fagan
The eighteenth century is almost at its close, and Irishman Angel Kelly sets sail from Liverpool aboard the Atlas with the intention of creating a Utopian commune in Brazil. But a mutiny on board means Kelly finds himself stranded on the coast of an unnamed Spanish colony in Latin America, and the aftermath leaves Kelly unwittingly caught up in a series of crises, culminating in displacement, rebellion and a deadly game of chase between empires. Populated by a cast of revolutionaries and pirates, capitalists and aristocrats, sailors and soldiers, slaves and spies, and set in an era of global upheaval, Eden’s Shore is tale of greed, revenge and love.
HELM Sarah Hall
Helm has blasted Cumbria’s Eden Valley since the dawn of time. A ferocious, mischievous wind which has been the subject of wonder and folklore down the centuries, Helm is the central character as Sarah Hall weaves the story around the chronicles of those who have been bewitched by it through the ages, anchored in the symbiotic relationship between people and nature. From the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate Helm to the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it; from the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it to the farmer’s daughter who fell in love with it; and now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by her measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fearing the end is nigh.
THE PRETENDER Jo Harkin
England, 1483, and the country is in peril. Hated King Richard III is not long for the throne, and the man who will become Henry VII is ready to snatch the crown for himself. In a remote village far from royal tumult, twelve-year-old John Collan lives a simple life with his widowed father. But history has other plans for young John. Having been stolen from his family and exiled – first to Oxford, then to Burgundy, and then Ireland John is being groomed for power. He is no longer John Collan but, instead, Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick and rightful heir to the throne. Far from home at the Irish court and preparing for a war that will see him either take his place as rightful king or die trying, John has only his own intuition and the unreliable counsel of his host’s daughter, Joan, to navigate his destiny as he is tossed into the chaos of history unfolding.
BOUNDARY WATERS Tristan Hughes
Set in Lower Canada at the dawn of the nineteenth century, Boundary Waters tells the story of Arthur Stanton, a young man lacking direction and desperately seeking the approval of his father. Inspired by tales of travellers, he signs up to join the fur trade, and, with a ragtag band of voyageurs, embarks on an epic journey north. Set during an era of shifting boundaries between nations and cultures, amid the starkly beautiful landscapes of the upper great lakes, Arthur’s journey becomes a tragicomic story of fortune-seeking, ill-starred love and redemption, in a land where misapprehensions can be fatal.
THE MATCHBOX GIRL Alice Jolly
It is 1938 in Vienna and young Adelheid Brunner does not speak. Instead, she writes and draws, and her dream is to own one thousand matchboxes. An utter mystery to her grandmother, Adelheid will stop at nothing to achieve her dream. Then Adelheid meets Dr Asperger, who lets children play all day and who understands the importance of matchboxes. He invites Adelheid to come and live at his Vienna paediatric clinic, where she, and other children like her, will live under his observation. But Vienna is not a safe place to be in 1938, and when the Nazis march into the city, a new terrible world is created, one of violence and fear and difficult choices. Why are the clinic’s children disappearing, and where do they go? Adelheid starts to suspect that some of Dr Asperger’s games are played for the very highest stakes. To survive, she too must play a game whose rules she cannot yet understand.
EDENGLASSIE Melissa Lucashenko
Set across two centuries, Edenglassie opens in 1854, as Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Brisbane – or Edenglassie, as it was once briefly known – where his community still outnumbers the British settlers. Initially, tensions simmer amid a fragile peace, but when colonial unrest is unleashed, Mulanyin’s passion for his new bride stands in direct opposition to his loyalty to his threatened homeland. Cut to modern day, and fiery activist Winona meets Dr Johnny when her grandmother Eddie has a fall. Thanks to a shrewd journalist, Eddie becomes a local celebrity, dominating the headlines as ‘Queensland’s Oldest Aboriginal’, and bringing past and present crashing together with consequences for Eddie and Winona that they could never have predicted.
BENBECULA Graeme Macrae Burnet
On the remote Scottish island of Benbecula, on 9 July 1857, Angus MacPhee, a labourer from Liniclate, murdered his father, mother and aunt. Tried at Inverness, he was found to be criminally insane and spent the rest of his life in the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison. Graeme Macrae Burnet recounts the gruesome story – a narrative about madness, murder and the uncertain nature of the self – through the eyes of Angus’s older brother, Malcolm, now himself ostracised by the community, living an isolated existence, and haunted by his traumatic past – all while he tries to keep a grip on his own sanity.
ONCE THE DEED IS DONE Rachel Seiffert
Set in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, Once the Deed is Done sees Ruth Novak, a 32-year-old Red Cross volunteer from England, arrive at one of the Northern German factories that has propped up Hitler’s war machine through the forced labour of Poles and Ukrainians. There she finds that the guards have fled, that paperwork has been burned, and that hundreds of hungry men have been left stranded within. But where are the women? Meanwhile, young Benno has been witness to something he barely understands – to women fleeing in the snowy night, to soldiers and strangers, to townspeople closing ranks – and now he and the other town children are curious about the refugees on their doorstep.
THE ARTIST Lucy Steeds
A sweltering summer in Provence, 1920, and Ettie moves through her uncle’s remote farmhouse, silently making his artistic genius possible. Joseph, an aspiring journalist, has been invited to the house, believing that interviewing the reclusive painter Edouard Tartuffe will make his professional reputation. But everyone has their secrets. Ettie has spent years cultivating hers. But now she is ready to be seen, even if it means setting light to her entire world amid the oppressive heat of that Provence summer.
SEASCRAPER Benjamin Wood
Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa’s trade as a shanker. He is, at heart, a folk musician, but that dream remains private. Instead, he rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey beach to scrape for shrimp, before spending the rest of his day selling what he has found, attempting to wash away the salt and scum from his skin, pining for local girl Joan Wyeth, and practising songs on his guitar. One day, a striking American visitor arrives, bringing with him a promise of Hollywood glamour that Thomas cannot resist. But is the stranger from afar telling the truth, and can his inspiration really carry Thomas away from his life of drudgery?