Announcing the 2026 Longlist

5th February, 2026

The Abbotsford Trust has announced the Longlist for the seventeenth Prize.  The twelve books on the Longlist for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize are:

VENETIAN VESPERS John Banville (Faber & Faber)

THE TWO ROBERTS Damian Barr (Canongate)

EDEN’S SHORE Oisín Fagan (John Murray Press)

HELM Sarah Hall (Faber & Faber)

THE PRETENDER Jo Harkin (Bloomsbury)

BOUNDARY WATERS Tristan Hughes (Parthian Books)

THE MATCHBOX GIRL Alice Jolly (Bloomsbury)

EDENGLASSIE Melissa Lucashenko (Oneworld Publications)

BENBECULA Graeme Macrae Burnet (Polygon)

ONCE THE DEED IS DONE Rachel Seiffert (Virago)

THE ARTIST Lucy Steeds (John Murray Press)

SEASCRAPER Benjamin Wood (Viking)

In stories both epic and intimate, this year’s 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. Readers can 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. Spanning as broad a timescale as you can imagine, the 2026 Longlist encompasses all the variety of story, tone and drama that, in the hands of first-class novelists, history has to offer.

Chair of Judges, Katie Grant, said:

“As always, compiling the Longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction isn’t easy, and again, as always, we’re guided by our criteria: originality, innovation, ambition, durability and quality of writing. The 2026 list spans all human experience and emotional intensity, with our authors crafting their work on both the small domestic canvas and a broader, more epic scale. And readers be warned: in amongst the clever, the funny, the poignant, the piquant, the moving, the intriguing and the surprising, in this year’s list you’ll find writing so visceral it will remain with you long after you have closed the book.”

Matthew Maxwell Scott, Walter Scott’s great-great-great-great grandson and Trustee of The Abbotsford Trust, said:

“This is a terrific Longlist and I am sure that debate amongst our wonderful judges about which books will make the Shortlist, and which novel will be this year’s eventual winner, will be very passionate.  The list showcases everything that is great about historical fiction, a genre Walter Scott did so much to help create more than two centuries ago, and which continues to delight discerning readers today. 

“We look forward to welcoming some of the authors to Abbotsford in June where, in the home that Scott built and loved, the celebration of great writing continues. Authors, readers and visitors alike can feel Scott’s presiding genius, a cultural icon of his own age and of ours.”

The Shortlist will be announced in April – keep watching this space for more news, and do join the conversation on our social media channels @waltscottprize!