We are thrilled to report that THE MANNINGTREE WITCHES by A.K. Blakemore has won the Desmond Elliott Prize!! https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/the-desmond-elliott-prize-2021/. The judges said: ‘The Manningtree Witches is a stunning achievement. Blakemore takes limited historical detail and, with what seems like effortless grace and imagination, crafts a breathing, complex world full of wrenchingly human characters, and tells us their stories in language that bears endless rereading, so clever and unexpected and pleasurable it is.’ – Lisa McInerney, chair of judges for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2021
The book is starting to accumulate brilliant US reviews ahead of publication there in August with Catapult. Kirkus say: "In Blakemore’s debut novel, her background as a poet is clear. The language is striking, full of distinctive insights regarding gender, truth, and religious devotion . . . Historical fiction has rarely felt so immediate." —Kirkus Reviews