The Costa Book Awards winners 2019
Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Costa Book Awards.
These awards honour some of the most outstanding books of the year written by authors based in the UK and Ireland, across five different categories. They are intended to reward the most enjoyable book in each category, with the winner of the overall £30,000 book of the year prize to be announced on 28 January.
First novel
The winner is The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins.
1826, the Old Bailey: former slave, Frannie Langton, stands trial. The testimonies against her are many - seductress, murderer. This is Frannie’s testimony; beginning on a plantation in Jamaica and ending in a mansion in London where a woman waits to be freed. At the heart of it, this question: could Frannie have murdered the only person she ever loved?
Novel
The winner is Middle England by Jonathan Coe.
The country is changing and, up and down the land, cracks are appearing - within families and between generations. In the Midlands, Benjamin Trotter tries to help his aged father navigate a Britain that seems to have forgotten he exists, while in London his friend Doug doesn’t understand why his teenage daughter is eternally enraged. Meanwhile, newlyweds Sophie and Ian can find nothing to agree on except the fact that their marriage is on the rocks…
Biography
The winner is The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather.
The incredible story of Witold Pilecki – one of the greatest heroes of the Second World War – a Polish resistance fighter who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz where he forged an underground army, sabotaged facilities, assassinated Nazi officers, gathered evidence of the mass murder of the Jews and spread news of the Holocaust to the Allies.
Poetry
The winner is Flèche by Mary Jean Chan.
In Flèche, Mary Jean Chan evokes the difficulties of reconciling one’s need for safety alongside the desire to shed one’s protective armour in order to fully embrace the world. As themes of multilingualism, queerness, psychoanalysis and cultural history emerge, so too does a richly imagined personal, maternal and national biography. This is a collection that feels urgent and true, dazzling and devastating by turns.
Children’s books
The winner is Asha & the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan.
In an unforgettable adventure set in contemporary India, Asha is guided by a majestic bird which she believes to be the spirit of her grandmother. Together with her best friend, Jeevan, she embarks on a journey across the Himalayas to find her missing father and save her home…
