‘That Winter’

Whilst I was looking for something else I happened upon a booklet that recorded in photographs what the local paper called ‘The Worst Winter of the Century’. This was the big freeze of 1962/63. I referred to this a while back when I had read ‘The Land in Winter’ by Andrew Miller, which is set in that time.

This was a lucky find as it gives me a lead in to the ‘Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction’ which I want to mention, as the winner announcement is on Thursday and I’m hoping to be there in Melrose.

This is the Shortlist. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed each of these excellent books. This is historical fiction, not of wars, battles, kings and queens or political intrigue amongst the powerful, but of the way in which times, events, impact ordinary people. So the books chosen have to evoke a particular time in the past and show innovation, durability and ambition of writing. I think each of these does that.

Quite a range - from ‘Glorious Exploits’ set in 412 BC after Athen’s invasion of Sicily has failed catastrophically - this is a book that ‘absolutely shouldn’t work, but absolutely does’ - through to ‘The Book of Days’ set in 1546 at a time when local church communities were having to come to terms with the changes brought about by the Reformation. Then Kevin Barry’s ‘The Heart in Winter’ set in 1891 Montana - ‘a Western with a difference’. And to ‘The Land in Winter’ set just about in living memory.

The winner could be any of them. I wouldn’t be able to choose. I suppose my favourite is ‘Glorious Exploits’ for its sheer bravado, but Andrew Miller’s writing is brilliant. I am not going to predict, I don’t mind which one wins, I am just very glad to have had the opportunity of reading this great set of books and look forward to meeting the authors on Thursday.