Historical Musings #96: HWA Crown Awards 2026

Welcome to this month’s post on all things historical fiction! This month, I want to highlight the books nominated for this year’s HWA Crown Awards. The longlists were announced last Wednesday by the Historical Writers Association (HWA) and you can find all the details here. There are three separate awards – one for debut novels, one for non-fiction and the other (the Gold Crown) for authors who have been previously published. The shortlists will be announced in October and the winner in November. Although I don’t have any plans to try to read all of these books, I thought it would be interesting to look at what, if anything, I’ve read so far from each list and what else I might like to read. Debut Crown Award The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain Finding Ida by Marya Burgess Splendour by Elizabeth Jane Burnett The Show Woman by Emma Cowing The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann A Mind Prone to Evil by PS Lynch When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin All That is Left is Life by Roberta…