Uncovering untapped sources, overlooked artefacts, and forgotten voices, the six books shortlisted for the UK’s most prestigious history writing prize – the Wolfson History Prize – have been announced today.
The Wolfson History Prize 2025 shortlist unearths hidden and lesser-known chapters from across history, from the everyday objects used in daily life by the Vikings, to personal narratives of multiculturalism in Britain; incredible stories of Victorian female detectives, to lost accounts from the last captives of the Atlantic slave trade; an intense rivalry between two royal cousins, to a reframing of the demise of a remote Scottish island.
The Wolfson History Prize is the most valuable history writing prize in the UK, awarding the winner £50,000 and each of the five shortlisted authors £5,000, giving a combined total of £75,000.
The six books shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 are:
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Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough (Profile Books)
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The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor (Allen Lane)
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Multicultural Britain: A People’s History by Kieran Connell (Hurst Publishing)
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Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Hannah Durkin (William Collins)
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The Gravity of Feathers: Fame, Fortune and the Story of St Kilda by Andrew Fleming (Birlinn)
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The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge (Yale University Press)
The judges for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 are Mary Beard, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Helen King and Diarmaid MacCulloch, with the panel chaired by David Cannadine.
David Cannadine, Chair of the Wolfson History Prize judges said: “The 2025 shortlist highlights the exceptional historians writing today, across a vast range of subject areas. Original, intimate and fascinating, each of the books on this year’s shortlist enrich our understanding of humanity and the past – and in so doing also provide deep insights into the world in which we live.”
Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation said: “We are delighted to be announcing this year’s shortlist for the Wolfson History Prize 2025, celebrating the highest quality historical writing and research. The Prize judges have chosen a shortlist with incredible breadth and depth. Each shortlisted author brings new stories from history to light with a masterly command of both prose and sources.”
Now in its 53rd year, the Wolfson History Prize celebrates the best historical writing being produced in the UK, reflecting both readability for a general audience and the highest quality writing and research.
Previous winners of the Wolfson History Prize include the eminent historians Antonia Fraser, Eric Hobsbawm, Halik Kochanski, Simon Schama, Amanda Vickery, Antony Beevor, Joanna Bourke, Christopher Bayly and Clare Jackson. The 2024 prize was won by Joya Chatterji for her genre-defying history of South Asia, Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century. The Wolfson History Prize is run and awarded by the Wolfson Foundation, an independent grant-making charity with a focus on research and education.
The winner of the Wolfson History Prize 2025 will be revealed on Tuesday 2 December 2025.
About the 2025 shortlist:
A Times History Book of the Year 2024, Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough is a fresh and modern history from a BBC New Generation Thinker. Richly illustrated and full of surprising delights, Embers of the Hands tells the untold stories of everyday Vikings.
The Wolfson History Prize judges said: “Beautifully and dynamically written, this book fuses history and archaeology to offer intimate and compelling insights into the everyday lives and beliefs of ordinary people in the Viking period.”
A Telegraph Best Book of the Year 2024, Helen Castor’s The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV chronicles the lives and reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, two cousins whose rivalry brought their nation to the brink of disintegration. Telling the story of one of the strangest and most fateful relationships in English history, it is a story about power and masculinity in crisis.
The Wolfson History Prize judges said: “An authoritative account of two monarchs whose power struggles, personalities and contrasting fortunes shaped the fate of medieval England, told with clarity, pace and tremendous verve.”
In Multicultural Britain: A People’s History Kieran Connell draws on his Irish and German heritage, and childhood in Birmingham’s Balsall Heath, to take readers into multicultural communities across post-Imperial Britain at key moments in their development, from 1940s Cardiff to the millennial Midlands, unveiling British multiculturalism as a rich and complex lived reality.
The Wolfson History Prize judges said: “Original and captivating, this book is an evocative exploration of multiculturalism in Britain from the 1940s onwards, seen through the overlooked experiences of four communities.”
A Guardian Books to Look Out for in 2024, Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Hannah Durkin is an immersive and revelatory history of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship of the Atlantic slave trade, whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.
The Wolfson History Prize judges said: “A superb reconstruction of the lives of the survivors of the slave ship, Clotilda. This searing book conveys the survivors’ sufferings and remarkable resilience, bringing to life their personal stories in a compelling way.”
Overturning the long-accepted view that the demise of the island of St Kilda was due to the community’s failure to adapt to the modern world, The Gravity of Feathers: Fame, Fortune and the Story of St Kilda by Andrew Fleming unearths untapped sources and fresh insights to bring this rich island culture alive.
The Wolfson History Prize judges said: “An absorbing and powerful book about St Kilda, written with deft humour and human sympathy. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, and social, political and religious history, it brings the island’s story to life.”
A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account – and how they became a cultural sensation. The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge recovers these forgotten women as both unacknowledged labourers and feminist icons.
The Wolfson History Prize judges said: “Offering fresh insight into gender and policing in Victorian Britain, this book provides an innovative exploration of the roles of women working in policing and private agencies, elegantly set alongside their fictional counterparts.”
The Wolfson History Prize is run and awarded by the Wolfson Foundation, an independent charity with a focus on research and education.
For more information on the Wolfson History Prize, please contact:
Edwina Boyd-Gibbins or Jane Lau at Midas on edwina.boyd-gibbins@midas-group.com / jane.lau@midas-group.com or 020 7361 7860.
