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The Costa Novel Award
51 winning novels and 85 more on the shortlists, 1971 to 2021. The other lists in The Novel Index show which of them have lasted.
Latest winner (2021): Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
The Costa Novel Award went to authors based in the UK or Ireland. It began life as the Whitbread Award and ran until 2021, so the list is closed: it won’t grow, and the winners have had time to settle. That makes it a reliable place to look for modern British and Irish fiction.
Life After Life is the easiest start, a big, inventive story about a woman who keeps getting another chance at her life. Bring Up the Bodies and Small Island appear on other prize lists too. Days Without End is told in a strong, strange voice that takes some getting used to. How to Be Both is short and best read with a free afternoon.
Winners and shortlists from Costa. The prize's own record · Every book from this prize in the index
The winners the lists rate highest
Life After Life is the Costa Novel Award winner the other lists rate highest, on 6 other lists.
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon, 2003
On 3 of the 18 lists it was eligible for
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When the shortlist outlasted the winner
The widest gap came in 2001, when Atonement lost to Twelve Bar Blues: it is now on 10 of our lists, the winner on 1.
Years when a shortlisted novel is now on more of our lists than the book that won.
| Year | Shortlisted | Lists | Winner | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Atonement Ian McEwan | 10 | Twelve Bar Blues | 1 |
| 2009 | Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel | 10 | Brooklyn | 2 |
| 2011 | The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes | 4 | Pure | 2 |
| 2015 | The Green Road Anne Enright | 3 | A God in Ruins | 1 |
| 2001 | The Siege Helen Dunmore | 3 | Twelve Bar Blues | 1 |
| 2019 | Shadowplay Joseph O'Connor | 3 | Middle England | 1 |
| 2020 | Piranesi Susanna Clarke | 3 | The Mermaid of Black Conch | 1 |
| 1996 | Last Orders Graham Swift | 3 | Every Man for Himself | 2 |
| 2017 | Home Fire Kamila Shamsie | 3 | Reservoir 13 | 2 |
Every Costa Novel Award winner, year by year
Unsettled Ground won in 2021. The first winner, in 1971, was The Destiny Waltz.
Lists used on this page
- The 100 best novels of all time, The Guardian (2026). Original list
- The 100 best novels written in English, The Guardian / Observer (2015). Original list
- The 100 greatest novels of all time, The Observer (2003). Original list
- The 100 best books of the 21st century, The Guardian (2019). Original list
- The 100 greatest British novels, BBC Culture (2015). Original list
- 100 novels that shaped our world, BBC Arts (2019). Original list
- 100 novels everyone should read, The Telegraph (2009). Original list
- All-Time 100 Novels, Time (2005). Original list
- The 100 best books of the 21st century, The New York Times (2024). Original list
- Booker Prize (winners and shortlists), Booker Prize Foundation (1969-). Original list
- Women's Prize for Fiction (winners and shortlists), Women's Prize Trust (1996-). Original list
- Costa (Whitbread) Novel Award (winners and shortlists), Costa (1971-2021). Original list
- Walter Scott Prize (winners and shortlists), Abbotsford Trust (2010-). Original list
- British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year (winners and shortlists), The Bookseller (1990-). Original list
- Readers' top 100 novels, The Guardian (2026). Original list
- The Big Jubilee Read, BBC Arts and The Reading Agency (2022). Original list
- The Great American Read, PBS (2018). Original list
- Goodreads Choice Awards: Fiction and Historical Fiction winners, Goodreads (2009-). Original list
- Richard & Judy Book Club picks, Richard & Judy / WHSmith (2004-). Original list
- Waterstones Book of the Year (winners and shortlists), Waterstones (2012-). Original list
- 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, Amazon.co.uk (2014). Original list