The Manningtree Witches takes the £10,000 first novel award for its ‘clever and unexpected’ story of a 17th-century Suffolk village’s moral panic
AK Blakemore has won the Desmond Elliott prize for best debut, with her historical novel about the English witch trials of the 17th century, The Manningtree Witches, praised by judges as a “stunning achievement”.
Following the story of Rebecca West, who is husbandless, fatherless and barely tolerated by the villagers of Manningtree, Essex, the novel depicts the fallout as pious newcomer Matthew Hopkins begins to ask after the women on the margins of society. It is Blakemore’s first novel, although the author has previously published two collections of poetry.
Related: The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore review – a darkly witty debut
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