Daniel Wiles‘ debut novel Mercia’s Take has won The Betty Trask Prize in the 2023 SoA Awards.
Michael Donkor praised the book: ‘Wiles is a master stylist: in this debut, each sentence is as dark and tough as the coal our protagonist mines each day. Characters – even those who are seemingly peripheral – have voices that ring with earthly credibility. Wiles’ evocation of the landscape is stunning too, often showing the sublimity that can exist alongside struggle.’
Judge Alex Preston said of the shortlist: ‘No judge of a literary prize will tell you that the process has been easy; I can’t think that many have had such a wonderful collection of novels to debate as we did this year. I was struck by how ambitious so many of the books were – again and again there was formal and thematic complexity on show, courageous attempts to give new shape to the novel. Our shortlist is brilliant and wide-ranging, a sign that our literary future is in very good hands.’
Find out more about the full list of winners.
Find out more about the book.