First awarded in 2010, and founded by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction aims to “honour the inventor of the historical fiction genre, Sir Walter Scott”.

In total, 12 novels are in contention for the £25,000 prize, including

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho by Paterson Joseph, a LoveReading Star Book: "Telling the extraordinary story of a Black Briton who rose from being born on a slave ship to lead the fight to end slavery, this is historic fiction at its most exhilarating."

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk

The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry

The Romantic by William Boyd of which LoveReading commented: "This fabulous fictionalised biography of the rollercoaster fortunes of a nineteenth-century soldier, writer, farmer and drifter encapsulates the spirit of an age."

These Days by Lucy Caldwell

My Name is Yip by Paddy Crewe 

The Geometer Lobachevksy by Adrian Duncan

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane 

Ancestry by Simon Mawer 

I Am Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam 

The Settlemen by Jock Serong

Novelist and columnist Katie Grant, Chair of Judges, said: “This year’s submissions to the Walter Scott Prize offered, as ever, many hours of globe-trotting, centuries-spanning pleasure, and our longlist is reflective of the breadth of literary talent, research and imagination displayed by many fine entries. Our longlist also reflects the development of historical fiction from a relatively straightforward depiction of times past to something more complex and ambitious.

“It’s still true that the past is a ‘foreign country’, but as our 12 longlisted novels illustrate, however ‘foreign’ it seems, the past helps us address the big questions of the present: is art its own justification? What do we leave behind when we die? What is freedom? As well as posing these and many other questions, in the 2023 WSP longlist you’ll find comfort and discomfort, the familiar and the unfamiliar, the heights of love and the depths of obsession, and perhaps a few surprises — in other words, a longlist to read, enjoy, debate and share."

The prize’s judging panel comprises Grant, Elizabeth Buccleuch, James Holloway, Elizabeth Laird, James Naughtie, Kirsty Wark and new judge for 2023, investigative journalist, writer and documentary maker Saira Shah.

Each shortlisted author is awarded £1,500. The shortlist – which usually features six books — will be announced in April, and a winner announced in mid June at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland.