Shortlist
Mr B. George Balanchine's Twentieth Century
Jennifer Homans
Thomas Penn
It is 1501. Henry VII has won the throne of England through luck, guile and ruthlessness. But for many he remains a usurper. Now, his elder son is to marry a great Spanish princess in a wedding upon which the fate of the country will hang... In his remarkable debut, Penn vividly recreates the dark and turbulent reign of Henry VII. Winter King vividly recreates the birth of the Tudor dynasty, as England was ravaged by fear, conspiracies and treachery, and one man clung to his kingdom at any cost.
Thomas Penn was born in 1974. He studied English at Oxford where he first encountered the strange, seductive world of Henry VII through the writing of the Tudor poet John Skelton, before gaining a PhD in early Tudor history from Clare College, Cambridge. He has written for the Sunday Times, Times Literary Supplement, History Today and has given guided walks on Tudor London and talks on Henry VII in London and around the country. Winter King, his first book, was published to great critical acclaim in 2011.
Shortlist
Jennifer Homans
Longlist
Nathan Thrall
Longlist
Tiya Miles
Shortlist
Tania Branigan