THE official shortlist for the Winston Graham Historical Prize has been revealed, featuring six captivating historical novels set in the UK and Ireland with a powerful sense of place.

The annual prize is the result of a bequest made to the Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) by Poldark author Winston Graham to enable the best historical fiction to be celebrated. The RIC is the charity which operates Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, where the winner of the £3,000 prize will be announced on June 11.

To be considered for entry, novels must have been published in the UK during the allotted time period, set at least 60 years ago in the UK and Ireland, and written by authors resident in the UK.

A readers’ committee has whittled the entries down to the following six, all published in the past 12 months:

· Mother Naked by Glen James Brown was inspired by a single payment entered into Durham’s Cathedral rolls during the time of the Black Death and the Peasant’s Revolt, and takes a wandering minstrel as its protagonist;

· Rosanna Pike’s debut novel A Little Trickerie is set in medieval England and follows a cast of ragtag characters planning an audacious hoax to escape the shackles of social injustice;

· Francesca Kay’s The Book of Days transports the reader to a Tudor manor house, where a noble woman takes solace in nature and the seasons as her husband’s life ebbs away, and the Reformation unfolds around them.

· Clear by Carys Davies tells a tale of isolation broken by unexpected and powerful human connection in 19th century Shetland;

· Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor addresses themes of belonging and betrayal of the Welsh coast, as the spectre of the Second World War looms in the background;

· The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller takes place in a small South West village in the 19060s during one of the coldest winters on recent record, and dives headlong into the forgotten recesses of the human heart.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of expert judges including academic Peggotty Graham - Winston Graham’s daughter-in-law - writer Lamorna Ash, Falmouth Book Festival organiser Colin Midson and award-winning authors Francis Spufford and Charlotte Hobson. The latter as panel chair described the shortlist as “excitingly varied, strange and wonderful”.

Winston Graham lived in Cornwall for 34 years and spent a lot of time researching his Poldark series at the Courtney Library in Truro. Dramatised on TV and radio, the novels were were famed for evoking such a strong sense of place that readers around the world felt a deep connection with the Cornish landscape.

Previously restricted to Cornwall, the Winston Graham Historical Prize was relaunched in 2024 as a national event, and was won by Benjamin Myers for Cuddy, a novel about St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.

"Winning the prize felt like validation and a just reward,” he said. “Writing novels is a mad folly, but when it all comes together and one’s book is recognised in such a public way, everything feels more than worth the efforts involved.”