Jack Fairweather wins the 2019 Costa Book of the Year Award

Ebury author Jack Fairweather was announced as the winner of the 2019 Costa Book of the Year Award with his novel The Volunteer, which tells the unsung story of one of the greatest heroes of the Second World War - a gripping story of defiance, rebellion, sabotage and escape from a Nazi death camp. The Wall Street Journal described it as 'a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it'. 

The £30,000 winning book was chosen from five categories: Best Novel – Middle England by Penguin General author Jonathan Coe, First Novel – The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Penguin General author Sara Collins, Biography – The Volunteer by Ebury author Jack Fairweather, Poetry – Fleche by Mary Jean Chan and Children's book – Asha & The Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan.