Costa Book of the Year 2015 is a Children’s Novel

Costa Book of the Year 2015 – The Lie Tree

The Costa Book of the Year has gone to a children’s novel as The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge, winning the author the £30,000 top prize. The Victorian Murder mystery is said to be a “gripping read for all ages” and beat the bookie’s favourite The Loney by debut author Andrew Muchael Hurley to the top prize.

It’s only the second time in the prize’s history that the prize has gone to a children’s book, and given the precedent, adult readers may be now listening too. That’s because the only previous time the novel went to a children’s book was for the Phillip Pullman book, The Amber Spyglass, and we know how popular that is with both children and adult alike.

The Lie Tree is Frances Hardinge’s seventh novel and tells the story of Faith Sunderly whose family have left England to escape a scandal and found themselves on a remote island. Faith ends up with a truth to uncover and discovers a strange tree that feeds off whispered lies.

Congratulations to the author for the Costa Book of the Year 2015. The category award winners are as follows:

The Lie Tree (US)
The Lie Tree (UK)

Costa First Novel Award:

Andrew Michael Hurley – The Loney (US UK)

Costa Novel Award:

Kate Atkinson – A God in Ruins – Review – (US UK)

Costa Biography Award:

Andrea Wulf – The Invention of Nature (US UK)

Costa Poetry Award:

Don Paterson – 40 Sonnets (US UK)

Costa Children’s Book Award:

Frances Hardinge – The Lie Tree

The Costa Prize was announced on Tuesday night at an awards ceremony in central London. The award honours outstanding books by authors based in the UK and Ireland, it was previously known as the Whitbread award. Last year’s winner was Helen McDonald with H is for Hawk.