Bridget Walsh triumphs at 2024 HWA Crown Awards

THE TUMBLING GIRL, the first title in Bridget Walsh’s sharp and witty Variety Palace Mystery series, has triumphed at this year’s HWA Crown Awards, winning the prestigious HWA Debut Crown Award.

The HWA Awards celebrate the best historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, and its ability to engage, illuminate, entertain and inform legions of readers. To be considered, the bulk of the work must take place at least thirty-five years prior to publication.

The winners of all the 2024 HWA Crown Awards were revealed at an awards party at St Ethelburga’s Centre in Bishopsgate on Wednesday 20th November – with DISOBEDIENT by Elizabeth Freemantle winning the Gold Crown Award and FOUR SHOTS IN THE NIGHT by Henry Hemming winning the Non-fiction Crown Award.

The judges for the 2024 Debut Crown Award were Ayo Onatade (chair), Dan Bassett and Susan Heads. On THE TUMBLING GIRL they said: ‘Recreates all the atmosphere of a Victorian music hall. Gripping plot and a clever insight into the world of the dark theatrical underworld.’

HWA Chair Imogen Robertson commented: ‘We were delighted that so many publishers submitted books to the Crown Awards this year and are very grateful for their support. It’s wonderful to see the rich range of historical fiction being published in the UK… Every book that was long- and shortlisted is an excellent read, offering new insights about the past and compelling storytelling, be they fiction or non-fiction. I encourage all history and literature lovers to dive in. And huge, huge congratulations to the winners for taking the crowns in another highly competitive year.’

THE TUMBLING GIRL was first published by Gallic Books in May 2023, and prior to publication it won the UEA Little, Brown Award for Crime Fiction. It was also shortlisted for the 2024 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and reached No. 1 in the US Amazon Kindle New Historical Thriller Chart. It sees an unlikely duo – ex-actress Minnie Ward and private detective Albert Easterbrook – team up to solve a grisly spate of murders in Victorian London.

The hotly anticipated sequel, THE INNOCENTS, was published by Gallic Books earlier this year to great acclaim, and the next novel in the series, THE SPIRIT GUIDE, will be published by Pushkin Press in 2026. THE SPIRIT GUIDE sees Minnie and Albert uncovering the dark secrets behind a female-only spiritualist group that purports to help its members commune with deceased loved ones.

About Bridget Walsh

Bridget Walsh lives in Norwich. She has a PhD in ‘Murder in the Victorian Domestic Sphere’ and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.

Praise for THE TUMBLING GIRL

‘Bridget Walsh’s THE TUMBLING GIRL is the first in what promises to be an entertaining series of historical mysteries… a narrative that neatly weds historical detail and quiet wit.’ – Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times, ‘The best historical fiction books of May 2023’

‘Ms. Walsh does a splendid job depicting Minnie’s flea-bitten yet appealing theatrical world and Albert’s monied yet treacherous milieu.’ – Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

‘Walsh impresses in this series launch featuring an unlikely pair of investigators in 1876 London… diligent research pays off in spades here, and her rich and nuanced portrayal of the period will leave readers feeling like they’re on the soggy streets of London. Imogen Robertson readers will be eager for a sequel to this un-put-downable mystery.’ – Publishers Weekly, starred review and a ‘Books of the Week’ pick

‘Walsh resurrects the culture and crimes of Victoriana without cliché or condescension, but with warmth, wit, remarkable texture and rare authority.’ – Tom Benn

‘Smart, funny and expertly plotted, THE TUMBLING GIRL cartwheels off the page. I loved my time with these characters. A cracking start to a charismatic and distinctive series.’ – Emma Styles

Visit Bridget’s website.

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Granta ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ author Graeme Armstrong’s RAVEHEART Pre-Empted by 4th Estate

Photo: Alice Zoo

RAVEHEART, a love letter to rave and thrilling ride of a novel by Graeme Armstrong, has been acquired in a hotly contested pre-empt by HarperCollins imprint 4th Estate. A high NRG, whip-smart look at the state of modern Britain through the eyes of a disparate band of rave rebels, RAVEHEART is George Orwell’s 1984 meets cult classic film HUMAN TRAFFIC.

The novel will be published in Spring 2026 after Michelle Kane, Publishing Director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Juliet Pickering. In a separate deal, multi-BAFTA winning production company Warp Films (THIS IS ENGLAND, FOUR LIONS, EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE) have optioned TV/Film rights from Conrad Williams.

‘I feel lucky to have both my dream imprint at 4th Estate and editor, Michelle Kane, at the helm on this fever dream of a novel which has taken the best bit of a decade to create,’ said Graeme. ‘While the majority of my work on the page, screen and community deals with hard-hitting social themes, RAVEHEART speaks to the pure joy of rave culture we experienced first-hand in its mid-2000s renaissance in Scotland, and to an ever more challenging world beyond. The incredible heritage of Scottish rave pioneers before us, combined with our generation’s bedroom bootlegging PCDJ craze made for years of endless energy (albeit some chemical) pure passion and mad memories. These are the nostalgic driving forces of RAVEHEART, and I can’t wait to share it with the rave and literary communities. Glowsticks at the ready, troops. We’re going in.’

‘Graeme Armstrong is a once in a generation writer – vivid, uncompromising, whip-smart and powerful – and this novel comes at the reader with the kind of force that challenges their world view,’ Michelle Kane added. ‘Terrifyingly prescient and uproariously funny, RAVEHEART is set to be a modern classic and to say that I am excited to be working with a writer like Graeme who is such a singular and original talent is to understate it – we have huge ambition for him at 4th Estate and we are extremely excited and honoured to have him on the list.’

Juliet Pickering says: ‘RAVEHEART is like nothing else – playing with form, politics, character, place – and it should be injected into our veins: a fizzing, witty, total high of a novel, brilliantly deconstructing the bigotry of modern politics, and one of the best novels on male friendship I’ve ever read. I can’t wait for everyone else to feel its heady, knockout punch to the brain.’

William Patterson – better known as DJ Turbo – is living a soulless existence after his glory days as resident spinner at a local Coatbridge ice rink, The Time Capsule, have been snatched from him. As a far-right UK regime sweeps to power, ‘The New Greatest Britishest Party’ cracks down on youth, culture, drugs and – the final straw – electronica. Incensed by a blanket ban of their beloved tunes, Turbo and his comrades launch a rave revolt – resurrecting the illegal warehouse parties of the past in this new darker, monolithic Greatest Britain, as a powerful act of resistance.

But, as the political situation escalates and secret police surveil every corner of society, Turbo and his troops fly ever closer to the sun in the dangerous world of the anti-rave abolitionist paramilitary. Mixing classic hardcore anthems, nu-gen euphoria enthusiasts and psychotropic chemical courtships, they will fight the war for the rave. Deciding who to trust… and who may betray the cause is everything. The future of the whole nation is on the line… can Turbo be the hero not just of rave, but of Scotland?

Hilarious, tragic and incredibly clever all at once, this unique, narcotic trip of a novel is a modern, meta, mayhem-filled cultural coup d'état and cult-classic in the making, written in an inimitable and energetic voice, from one of the most electrifying young writers in Britain today.

About Graeme Armstrong

Graeme Armstrong is a Scottish writer from Airdrie. His teenage years were spent within North Lanarkshire’s gang culture. Alongside overcoming his own struggles with drug addiction, alcohol abuse and violence, he defied expectation to read English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling; where, after graduating with honours, he returned to study a Masters’ in Creative Writing. He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Strathclyde.

Graeme regularly works within the community visiting prisons and schools, giving talks on his experiences of gang-culture and substance abuse. He promotes a message of anti-violence and abstinence-based recovery.

His bestselling debut novel, THE YOUNG TEAM (Picador, 2020), is inspired by his experiences. It won a Betty Trask Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, and the Scots Book o the Year 2021.

In 2021, Graeme presented SCOTLAND THE RAVE, a documentary broadcast by the BBC that explored Scotland’s rave and PCDJ culture, subsequently nominated for a BAFTA Scotland and RTS Scotland Award 2022. His second documentary series, STREET GANGS, where Graeme reflects on his own past as an ex-gang member to try to understand life inside a modern gang, aired on the BBC in October 2023.

In 2023, Graeme was chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, an accolade that is awarded once a decade.

Praise for Graeme Armstrong

‘Graeme Armstrong is the real deal.’ – Douglas Stuart

‘One of the most admired young voices in British fiction’ – Mike Wade, The Times

‘Has proved the novel form is still alive and kicking… a genuine literary phenomenon… Indeed, Armstrong is that rare thing, a writer whose work has become a tangible part of a social material, as has Armstrong himself.’ – James Taylor, Metal Magazine

‘Armstrong makes language slam-dance and pirouette, using an endless variety of relishable words and phrases.’ – The Guardian

‘His work is vivid, dynamic and sharp as a whip; his capacity to surprise the reader distinct and powerful.’ – Janice Galloway

Follow Graeme on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Lyrical memoir by Costa Book of the Year winner Hannah Lowe won at auction by Scribner

Credit: Rii Schroer

Hannah Lowe’s THE WOMAN IN THE CHINESE COLLAR, winner of the 2023 Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award, has been acquired for publication in a heated five-way auction by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Deputy Publishing Director Kris Doyle acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) rights from Isobel Dixon. The book will be published in Spring 2026 as Scribner’s lead non-fiction title for the season.

The book is a lyrical, investigative memoir that investigates the fascinating life of Hannah’s Chinese–Jamaican aunt Nelsa, touching on themes of race, immigration and the spectre of male violence.

Hannah Lowe said: ‘I’m delighted THE WOMAN IN THE CHINESE COLLAR has found a home with Scribner in the UK. The book is the culmination of years of research and investigation into the life of my aunt Nelsa Lowe in Jamaica, and I’m so pleased it will be in the caring hands of Kris Doyle and his team.’

‘Everyone here was blown away by the story of Hannah’s “legendary” aunt Nelsa,’ added Kris Doyle. ‘This is a book about universal themes of family, inheritance and belonging – don’t we all want to know where we truly come from? – but the specific socio-political context also broadens the reach and resonance. Page by enthralling page, Hannah’s deft and thoughtful prose made the unknowable knowable: the past is not just there for the taking, but this gorgeous act of reclamation, recovery and reconstruction is a vital work of literature that grips from the first moment. The book is too original to be easily compared with others, but readers who have enjoyed recent non-fiction by Hisham Matar, Laura Cumming and Lea Ypi would find much pleasure here.’

Isobel Dixon said: ‘Hannah’s lyrical and narrative skills, so beautifully interwoven in her poetry, combine powerfully in this fierce, tender and searching memoir. It was no surprise that many publishers loved this magnificent, multi-faceted work, but we’re so happy that Hannah’s special book has found such a great UK home with Kris Doyle and the excellent team at Scribner.’

Propelled by a single portrait photograph, THE WOMAN IN THE CHINESE COLLAR is a lyrical, investigative family memoir that sees poet Hannah Lowe embark on a search across time and space to recover a lost story of a woman making her way in a man’s world. Combing through history and memory, Lowe traces the journey of her Afro–Chinese aunt Nelsa, a herbalist and healer, and renowned restaurant and nightclub hostess in Kingston, Jamaica.

Politics, poverty, disability, sex work and crime combine in this narrative of diaspora and home, as Lowe deftly and tenderly interrogates the role of writing and research in tracing routes and roots, and how to excavate the life of a marginalised woman when the archives are empty.

About Hannah Lowe

Hannah Lowe was born in Ilford to an English mother and Jamaican-Chinese father. Her 2021 poetry collection, THE KIDS, won the Costa Book of the Year Award 2021. THE KIDS also won the Costa Poetry Award 2021, was shortlisted for the 2021 T.S. Eliot Prize, was a Poetry Book Society Choice for Autumn 2021 and an Irish Times and Guardian poetry book of the year.

Her first book-length collection, CHICK, won the 2015 Michael Murphy Memorial Prize and was selected for the Poetry Book Society’s Next Generation Poets 2014 promotion. Her second full-length collection, CHAN, was published by Bloodaxe in 2016, followed by a pamphlet, THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (Out-Spoken Press) in 2019. Her prose memoir, LONG TIME NO SEE, exploring her relationship with her half-Chinese, half-Jamaican immigrant father, was published by Periscope in 2014.

Praise for Hannah Lowe

‘We were enthralled by Hannah Lowe’s inventive approach to conjuring Nelsa, her Afro-Chinese Jamaican aunt. Remarkably, Lowe evokes Nelsa through a single portrait photo and along the way excavates other marginalised women whose lives are rarely noted in official archives.’ – Judges of the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer’s Award

‘It’s joyous, it’s warm and it’s completely universal. It’s crafted and skilful but also accessible… the sort of book that you could hand to anybody because you would know that everyone would get something out of it.’ – Reeta Chakrabarti, chair of Costa Prize judges, on THE KIDS

‘When you finish this poetically told book, you know you have been gifted a treasure’ – Kerry Young on LONG TIME, NO SEE

‘A poet with a commanding style; her voice is entirely her own, both rich and laconic… springing from the page with vitality, rue and insight.’ – Penelope Shuttle

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER now airing on UK terrestrial television

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is now available to watch on terrestrial television in the UK. Season One has been broadcasting on Sunday nights at 8pm on UKTV’s drama channel, U&Drama and can be watched on catch up here.

Based on Sally Andrew’s hugely popular Tannie Maria series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is centred on Tannie Maria, a food and advice columnist who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation with her best friend Jessie. RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER  is a co-production from Acorn TV, Multichoice and Cape Town-based production company Both Worlds Pictures, in co-operation with Global Screen. The series is produced by Both Worlds Pictures’ founder Thierry Cassuto, in collaboration with Paris-based Paradoxa. European distributor Global Scale recently announced RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER Season Two as part of its drama lineup that will be launched to buyers at TV market Mipcom.

Starring Maria Kennedy (OUTLANDER), Tony Kgoroge (INVICTUS) and Kylie Fisher, the first series was selected for the Berlinale ‘Series Markets Selects’ in February 2022 and began broadcast in South Africa on M-Net in March 2022 to fantastic reviews. The series was nominated for three awards at the 2023 South African Film & Television Awards (Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama, Best Achievement in Editing in a TV Drama, and Best Achievement in Directing in a TV Drama), Best Writing for a Television Series at the 2023 WGSA Muse Awards, Best Cinematography at the 2023 Venice TV Awards, and was also shortlisted for a Rose d’Or Award. Acorn TV hold distribution rights to the series for the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, while Multichoice holds rights for Africa. Following the pick-up by Japan’s Mystery Channel, the first season has now sold in 94 countries. You can watch the trailer here.

RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER has been renewed for a second season and eight 45-minute episodes began filming in South Africa in April 2024. Season two of RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER will take up where the first season left off – following the events of the second book in the series, THE SATANIC MECHANIC.

The Tannie Maria series titles are all bestsellers in South Africa – regularly in the Top 5, with THE MILK TART MURDERS shooting straight to the top of the combined fiction and non-fiction charts on publication in March 2022. It also won the 2023 Nielsen SA Book Award for Fiction.

Sally is now working on the fifth book in the series. Penguin SA published the Tannie Maria Cookbook in April 2024.

About Sally Andrew

Sally Andrew divides her time between Muizenberg on the Cape Town coast and a nature reserve near Ladismith in the Klein Karoo, South Africa, where she lives with her artist partner and various wildlife (including a giant eland and a secretive leopard). Sally has published a number of non-fiction books on adult and environmental education.

Her first novel, RECIPES FOR LOVE & MURDER: A Tannie Maria Mystery was a Kirkus Best Book of 2015, A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery Book 2015, The Bookseller Fiction editor’s Choice 2015 and A Good Housekeeping Book of the Month.

Praise for RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER TV show

‘Gentle… the TV series offers the same mix of human drama, gorgeous landscape, local colour and mouth-watering cooking, quietly threaded through with the more serious issues of domestic abuse, racial inequality and the legacies of apartheid… Despite the murders and simmering racial undertones, the show keeps its warm, humorous tone through the quiet, grounded character of Maria, with her empathetic, practical advice – and recipes – in response to the letters she receives.’ – Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times

‘A quirky, colourful murder mystery set in the South African outback.’ – Christopher Vourlias, Variety

‘Mild comic, romantic and criminal misadventures in a picturesque setting…  a one-of-a-kind heroine.’ – Mile McCahill, Variety

‘The highly watchable Maria Doyle Kennedy takes the lead in this very fun and quirky crime series, which is based on the book of the same name by Sally Andrew. Tannie Maria (Doyle Kennedy) is a recipe-creator-turned-advice-columnist who gets caught up in a murder mystery based on one of the letters she receives for her column. Teaming up with an investigative journalist to get to the bottom of the case, the pair clash with local police as they run amok across crime scenes.’ – Jenna Guillaume, Flicks, ‘7 TV shows arriving in September that we’re excited for’

‘Though there is some darkness to the series, as well as social seriousness, it’s kept cozy by its very much post-apartheid, classically eccentric community and the sweetness of its characters. There is a bit of flirtation, and unexpressed longing. And there is food – Maria’s effective love advice always includes a recipe – which we see prepared, step by step.’ – Los Angeles Times

‘RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER is a delight… There's plenty of humor and wit, and the mystery elements fairly snap along.’ – Janet Mullaney, Telly Visions

Visit Sally’s website

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Sheila O’Flanagan shortlisted for the 2024 Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award

International bestselling novelist Sheila O’Flanagan has been shortlisted for the 2024 Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award. Part of the An Post Irish Book Awards, the Library Association of Ireland Author of the Year Award is given to an Irish author whose works contributed significantly to the reader experience and enjoyment of Irish books during 2024, as nominated by librarians and library book club members. Previous winners include Claire Keegan and John Boyne.

The other authors on this year’s shortlist are as follows: Eoin Colfer, Sally Rooney, Donal Ryan, Jo Spain and Colm Tóibín. The winner will be announced at a gala dinner at the Convention Centre in Dublin on 27th November 2024 and you can take part in the voting process here.

Larry Mac Hale, Chairperson of the An Post Irish Book Awards, says: ‘The shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards is, once again, remarkable, showcasing the immense talent of Irish writers and the strength of our literary community. Each category highlights exceptional writing, with well deserving authors, publishers, illustrators, and booksellers being recognised.’

Previously Sheila won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2011 for her novel ALL FOR YOU, and had THREE WEDDINGS AND A PROPOSAL and WHAT EDEN DID NEXT shortlisted for the same prize in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Photo credit: Bill Waters

About Sheila O’Flanagan

Sheila O’Flanagan is an international bestselling novelist, with more than 9 million copies sold. Most of her novels have been immediate and long-lasting No 1s in Ireland, UK Top 10 Sunday Times Bestsellers and Kindle Bestsellers, and she is published in more than twenty languages around the world. She is the recipient of the prestigious Irish Tatler Literary Woman of the Year Award.

Praise for Sheila O’Flanagan

‘One of my favourite authors’ – Marian Keyes

‘One of our best-known, best-loved and most prolific women’s fiction authors’ – Irish Independent

‘Reading a Sheila O'Flanagan novel always feels like sitting down for a cup of tea with a friend – she writes with such warmth and empathy.’ – Beth O’Leary, author of THE FLATSHARE

 ‘Sheila writes with such verve and positivity and emotional intelligence.’ – Veronica Henry

 Visit Sheila’s website.

 Follow Sheila on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.