Abbotsford announces 2026 Scott Prize shortlist

16th April, 2026

The shortlist for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has been announced from Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott and the Prize, in a video narrated by James Naughtie. For the first time in the Prize’s seventeen-year history, there are five books on the shortlist, all by British authors. The shortlisted titles are:

THE PRETENDER by Jo Harkin (Bloomsbury)
THE MATCHBOX GIRL by Alice Jolly (Bloomsbury)
BENBECULA by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Polygon)
ONCE THE DEED IS DONE by Rachel Seiffert (Virago)
SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood (Viking)

Spanning the centuries from the 1480s to the 1950s, the novels cover events and locations from the English Wars of the Roses to Austria and Germany during the Second World War, and a shocking true crime committed on a Hebridean island to an imagined encounter in a small community on the northwest coast.

The judges said:

“The five shortlisted novels for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize probe intimate lives lived in both small and big settings. Readers will hear voices usually unheard but which, once heard, won’t be forgotten. The shortlist choice is always difficult, but our authors each reveal the hidden, and in doing so offer new insights into our own times as well as the times in which their novels are set. Above all, our five authors are storytellers, so if you like a good story, the 2026 Walter Scott Prize shortlist is one you won’t want to miss.”

The shortlist announcement was accompanied by a video shot at Abbotsford and narrated by James Naughtie. In the video, the five books are revealed in various locations throughout the gardens, library, drawing room, and Scott’s study. Abbotsford is one of the Borders’ key visitor attractions, and is managed by Scottish independent charity The Abbotsford Trust, which also oversees the Prize.

The winner of the 2026 Walter Scott Prize will be revealed on 12th June, following a live event at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose on 11th June presented by Sir Walter Scott’s great-great-great-great grandson, Matthew Maxwell Scott, alongside Prize founder and patron the Duke of Buccleuch. Tickets for the event go on sale on 22nd April at the Borders Book Festival box office.

The winner receives £25,000, while each shortlisted author is awarded £1,500, making this one of the most lucrative fiction prizes in the UK. To qualify, books must have been written in English, should be largely set more than 60 years ago, and must have been published during 2025 in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth.

Read the judges’ citations for each book and find out more about the Shortlist here!