Welcome to this month’s post on all things historical fiction!
First of all, congratulations to Alice Jolly, who has won this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The winner was announced at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland yesterday, chosen from a shortlist of five books.
The winning novel, The Matchbox Girl, is one of the shortlisted titles that I haven’t read yet. It tells the story of Adelheid Brunner, a mute autistic patient of Dr Hans Asperger in the Vienna Children’s Hospital during the 1930s, while the city is occupied by the Nazis. I’m not sure if I’ll like it as it seems to be written in an unusual style, but I do have a copy of it and will try to get to it soon.
Moving on, last December I posted a list of upcoming historical fiction being published in 2026. Now that we’re halfway through the year, more titles have been announced so I thought I would post an updated list below for the rest of the year. This is simply a selection of books that have caught my attention for one reason or another – some are review copies I’ve received, some are new books by authors I’ve previously enjoyed and others just sounded interesting.
Dates provided are for the UK and were correct at the time of posting.
JULY
The Scandalous Ladies Football Club by Frances Quinn (2nd July 2026)
Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell (16th July 2026)
The Forever Summer by Lulu Taylor (30th July 2026)
The Valley of Ravens by Barbara Erskine (30th July 2026)
AUGUST
Little Spark by Jess Kidd (13th August 2026)
Henrietta by Sophie Irwin (13th August 2026)
Agrippa by Robert Harris (27th August 2026)
SEPTEMBER
The Snow Witch by Kirsty Ferry (3rd September 2026)
Cold Sunset by William Boyd (3rd September 2026)
The Newer World by Sebastian Barry (8th September 2026)
The Midnight Guests by Alex Hay (10th September 2026)
Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson (10th September 2026)
The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain (17th September 2026)
The Wine-Dark Sea by Victoria Hislop (24th September 2026)
OCTOBER
The Weight of Angels by John Boyne (1st October 2026)
The Puffin by Michelle Lovric (8th October 2026)
Royal Witch by Philippa Gregory (20th October 2026)
NOVEMBER
The Bells of Fortune by Leonora Nattrass (5th November 2026)
The Christmas Tree Murders by Katie Lumsden (5th November 2026)
Orlando by Harry Whittaker (5th November 2026)
Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers by Alan Bradley (5th November 2026)
Thorns in the Hollow by Laura Purcell (26th November 2026)
DECEMBER
Domain of Darkness by Marisa Linton (3rd December 2026)
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Are you interested in reading any of these? Which other historical novels should I be looking out for before the year of the year? And what do you think of Alice Jolly winning the Walter Scott Prize?
She Reads Novels 
I always say that I’m not going to read any more of Philippa Gregory’s rubbish, but I always do anyway! I’ll read the football book once the price comes down.
I haven’t read any Philippa Gregory books for a while, but they’re usually quite entertaining, if nothing else! The football book should be interesting.
Lists like these always add to my own TBR list! Can’t wait to hear about your favorites. 😀
Thanks – I’m hoping to read at least some of these before the end of the year!
The Matchbox Girl sounds interesting! My e-library doesn’t have it yet, but maybe the award will be an incentive.
I hope your e-library gets a copy soon. I’m sure more people will be interested in reading it now that it’s won the award. It does sound fascinating and I’m hoping to find time for it this summer.
Oh, boy! Jess Kidd, Robert Harris, William Boyd, Sebastian Barry, Kate Atkinson! By the way, I just noticed you changed your design a bit (when?). I like the stars down the sides!
I changed the design two or three weeks ago, I think. I’m glad you like it!
The Matchbox Girl was my tip so glad it won. Really inventive way to approach a dark subject. Won’t be everyone’s cup of tea because of the narrative style, but I thought it was brilliant.
I’m hoping the narrative style will work for me as it does sound like a fascinating book!
I’m looking forward to Agrippa a lot! But there are some other books on my list that interest me as well. Happy reading!
I always look forward to new Robert Harris books! I hope we both enjoy Agrippa.
Kate Atkinson is going onto my wish list. Thanks for highlighting that – I didn’t know she had anything new coming out
You’re welcome! I’m looking forward to that one as well, although I already have an unread copy of her last book, which I should probably read first.
I always love these kind of lists. Definitely very intrigued by Royal Witch. I have so many books by the author on my TBR that I truly don’t know how I haven’t tried any yet 🙈 this upcoming one sounds like such a fascinating story though. The Christmas one has me intrigued too, especially as its by another author I’ve been meaning to try. Did you try Barbara Erskine’s previous book, The Story Spinner? Its another I’ve been curious about.
I added The Queen’s Painter by Wendy Holden to my TBR today when it was mentioned in an email. I can’t think of any other historical tirles off of the top of my head right now besides the gothic horror ones I have lined up.
As to the prize winner it sounds like an interesting premise. In what way is the style odd?
Royal Witch does sound like an interesting subject. I’ve read some of Philippa Gregory’s books but still have a lot to get to. She’s written so many! I haven’t read The Story Spinner, but I’ve read a few of Barbara Erskine’s earlier books and enjoyed some but didn’t like others, so I’ll be interested to see what I think of her new one.
I’ve just started reading The Matchbox Girl and it does have a bit of an odd style with random words having capital letters but so far I’m enjoying it.
She’s definitely written an incredible number of books. I hope this new one is one of the ones that works for you then.
I’ll keep an eye out for your review 😊 hope you enjoy the rest.
Looking forward to Harris and Boyd, and I’ll keep an eye out for the Nattrass – I enjoyed her last one!
Yes, I enjoyed the first book in the Nattrass series too, so I’m hoping for good things from the next one. New books from Robert Harris and William Boyd are always something to look forward to as well!