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Gavin McCrea's debut novel Mrs Engels joins Lisa McInerney's Glorious Heresies and Julia Rochester's The House at the Edge of the World on the shortlist of the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize for a first novel. Chair of judges Iain Pears said: ?These are hugely ambitious, complex, confident works by three extremely talented writers and it is wonderful that the Desmond Elliott Prize exists to help them reach the wide audience they so richly deserve. With the demise of the Guardian First Book Award, a prize like this is all the more important to new writers.? Pears also said: ?McCrea has cleverly included just enough historical detail to set a very evocative scene, then lets his cast tell the story. The writing always surprises, his characters are compelling without having to be likeable and, as all of we judges noted, Mrs Engels is perhaps the most feminist novel we read for the Prize.? McCrea?s citation reads: ?The cover of Mrs Engels shows a lady mounted on a zebra, a famously unridable steed. Yet here she poses steady of seat and gaze ? truly the axis of this turning world, shrewd observer if shrewish commentator. Around her the circus whirls. Gavin McCrea: ringmaster and recorder of this troupe of theoretical acrobats, social lion tamers and communard clowns, schooled but not subdued into a performance as full of brio as it is free of intellectual snobbery. His is a narrative canvas as eventfully crowded as it is richly meaningful, daring to instruct as it is drawn to please.?

Kiran Millwood Hargrave's "simply stunning debut" The Girl of Ink & Stars has been chosen as Waterstones' Children's Book of the Month for May 2016. "That rare thing ? a genuinely timeless, heart-on-its-sleeve adventure ? this fictional debut from Oxford-based Kiran Millwood Hargrave is as beautifully produced as it is written." More than perhaps anything else, The Girl of Ink & Stars is a tale of pure courage, of how belief and self-will can overcome all. Isabella is a cartographer?s daughter, the devastated, monster-filled world once mapped by her father now largely off-limits beyond her city?s walls. When her best friend goes missing within this wasteland, Isabella ? with her unique knowledge of maps and stars ? implicitly understands she can find her, immediately electing to lead a mission to bring her friend home.

Elly Griffiths' The Ghost Fields has been longlisted for the 2016 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, one of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country. Now in its twelfth year, the award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing. The longlist comprises 18 titles and was selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith. The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 31st May. The overall winner will be decided by the judges alongside a public vote, which opens on 1st July and closes 15th July. The winner will be announced on 21st July, on the opening night of the 14th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. Executive director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston, said: ?2016?s longlist shows that the crime genre is in incredibly robust health. It?s a showcase of some of the best authors in the world, and shows that the genre is the most influential when it comes to shaping publishing and popular culture. It?s incredibly exciting to see such strong new voices on the list, and it will no doubt be a hotly-contended award.? Gemma Rowland, Literature Festivals Manager at Harrogate International Festivals, said: ?The list demonstrates that even the giants of the genre are constantly kept on their toes, with debut voices as serious contenders. Last year?s winner was a debut from Sarah Hilary. It really shows whoever wins this year will know they?ve been pitted against the biggest talent at work today.?

Edward Dusinberre's Beethoven for a Later Age has been selected for Radio 4's Book of the Week next week. 5 episodes of readings from the book will be broadcast throughout the week, the first on Monday 4th April at 9.45am. In the first episode, Edward Dusinberre recalls his first season as the Takacs Quartet's first violinist. As he and his three fellow performers set out to perfect their performance of Beethoven's Opus 18, no 1 he is preoccupied by questions of more individual and more integrated expression in the musical ensemble. He also finds that adapting to life as a touring musician has it's challenges. Click here to view Episode 1: An Audition.

Robert Penn's The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees has been shortlisted in this year's Independent Bookshop Week Book Awards. Adult category judges are Emma Healey, author of Elizabeth is Missing, Claire Armitstead (The Guardian), and Simon Heafield (Foyles). Independent Bookshop Week (18th-25th June 2016) is part of the Books Are My Bag campaign, and seeks to celebrate independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland. The winner will be announced on Friday 17th June, the day before the start of Independent Bookshop Week 2016.

Gavin McCrea's debut novel, Mrs Engels, has been longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, described by the Telegraph as the "most prestigious award for first-time novelists". The Prize is presented in the name of the late, acclaimed publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott, who stipulated that his estate should be invested in a charitable trust that would fund a literary award "to enrich the careers of new writers". Chair of judges and internationally acclaimed author Iain Pears said: ?I am intrigued and excited by the prospect of delving into this wonderfully varied selection of novels. They form an eclectic collection from a host of writers, all telling new stories with the voices of the next generation. I look forward to reading them, discussing them with my fellow judges and, with luck, encouraging others to read and discuss them as well.? The shortlist will be announced on 6th May, and the winner will be revealed at a ceremony at Fortnum & Mason on 22nd June.

Gavin McCrea's Mrs Engels has been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the largest annual fiction prize to be judged outside London. It honours the legacy and achievements of Sir Walter Scott, founder of the historical novel genre. The judges said of Mrs Engels: "Unusual in its focus, and broad in its reach, Mrs Engels does that thing that good historical novels should do: it allows you to see a piece of the past that you have never seen before, and open your eyes to a story that has not yet been told." The winner will be announced on 18th June during the Borders Book Festival in Melrose.

Sunjeev Sahota's Man Booker-shortlisted The Year of the Runaways has made it onto the shortlist for the International Dylan Thomas prize 2016. The prize, named after the Welsh poet who died in 1953 aged 39, is awarded for the best work of English-language fiction by an author aged 39 or under. Author Sarah Hall said that the books on the shortlist "have perhaps only one thing in common - literary ambition and the breathtakingly successful execution of their visions". The winner of the prize will be announced on International Dylan Thomas Day,15th May, at a gala ceremony in Swansea University's Great Hall.

Caroline Criado-Perez's book Do It Like A Woman has been voted Book of the Year by BookLife, a Nudge reading group. Do It Like A Woman sheds light on the unrecognised stories of amazing women, who have been hidden from view by a public culture dominated by men. The book draws attention to the sportswomen, activists, game-changers, leaders and even the beer-drinkers who are re-defining what woman can do in the 21st century. One voter said: "This is a book that shows women what they can achieve despite any circumstance."

Gavin McCrea's Mrs Engels and Jason Hewitt's Devastation Road are among the thirteen books selected for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction's 2016 longlist. The Chair of Judges, Alistair Moffat, said: "The thirteen books that make up our longlist are the most illuminating, entertaining, and sweeping of those submissions that fitted our rules on timespan. The judges and readers who collate the longlist had to make difficult decisions, and also had to ask pertinent questions about the nature of fiction that flows between the past and the present. What is the relationship between contemporary recollection and the reliability of memory? Where does history cease and myth begin?" The shortlist will be announced in March, and the winner will be revealed at the Borders Book Festival on 18th June.

The launch of Elly Griffith's new website coincides with the recent publication of the eighth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery series, The Woman in Blue, and offers readers information about events, book releases, and reviews.

This week sees the publication of violinist Edward Dusinberre?s brilliant book on Beethoven and quartet playing, Beethoven for a Later Age. Hear him talk about it on Monday?s Start the Week.

Marina Benjamin, whose forthcoming book on middle age The Middlepause: On Turning 50 is published by Scribe in May, has just written this brilliant piece on gambling for Aeon magazine.

In this Faber podcast to mark the publication of his new book, Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet, Edward Dusinberre gives us a glimpse of his life in the world-renowned Tak?cs Quartet and introduces us to the story behind Beethoven?s masterpieces ? their technical difficulties, their significance for performers and audiences around the world, as well as what they signify for him personally. Edward Dusinberre is first violinist of the Tak?cs Quartet. Performances of Beethoven have shaped their work together for over forty years. Using the history of both the Tak?cs Quartet and the Beethoven quartets as the backbone to his story, Dusinberre recounts the exhilarating challenge of tackling these pieces. In an accessible style, suitable for novices and chamber music enthusiasts alike, Dusinberre illuminates the variety and inherent contradictions of Beethoven?s quartets, composed against the turbulent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, and shows that engaging with this radical music continues to be as invigorating now as it was for its first performers and audiences. https://soundcloud.com/faberbooks/beethoven-for-a-later-age