GLASS BELL AWARD LONG LIST 2025

Goldsboro Books revealed the Long List for the 2025 Glass Bell Award, celebrating the very best storytelling across all genres of contemporary fiction. Launched in 2017, the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award is awarded annually to outstanding work of contemporary fiction, rewarding quality storytelling in any genre. 

Glass Bell Award Long List

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (Century, PRH)
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks (W&N, Orion)
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (Transworld, PRH)
James by Percival Everett (Picador & Mantle, Pan Macmillan)
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey (Hutchinson Heinemann, PRH)
The Silverblood Promise by James Logan (Arcadia, Quercus Books)
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage, PRH)
Berlin Duet by S. W. Perry (Corvus, Atlantic Books)
A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike (Fig Tree, PRH)
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Viking, PRH)
The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet (Faber & Faber)
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion Books)

(nominees in bold reflect crime fiction)

2024 GLASS BELL AWARD

London’s Goldsboro Books announced its Shortlist for the 2024 Glass Bell Award, which “celebrates the very best in contemporary fiction.” 

In Memoriam, by Alice Wynn (Viking)
Clytemnestra, by Costanza Casati (Michael Joseph)
Strange Sally Diamond, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)
Lady Macbethad, by Isabelle Schuler (Bloomsbury Raven)
The Square of Sevens, by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Mantle)
The Turnglass, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster)

The winner will be announced September 26, at Goldsboro Books’ 25th birthday party. 

Sad to say, I have only read Strange Sally Diamond. It's brilliant. I'm looking forward to reading the others on the list. 

GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL LONGLIST

Goldsboro Books announced the twelve titles longlisted for the 2022 Glass Bell Award (books published in 2022). The Glass Bell Award celebrates the best storytelling across contemporary fiction, regardless of genre. 

The 2022 longlist includes debuts – making up just under half of the longlist- including debut thrillers The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, Anna Bailey’s creepy and atmospheric novel Tall Bones, and Mrs March by darkly funny, Spanish author Virginia Feito.

Debut authors Hafsa Zayyan, winner of the Merky Books New Writers Prize with We Are All Birds of Uganda, and Robert Jones Jr., who’s stunning novel The Prophets explores the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, join fellow historical novelists, Lucy Holland with her new book Sisterstong, British Book Awards 2022 shortlisted author Elodie Harper with The Wolf Den, and the bestselling novel Ariadne by Jennifer Saint.

Spanning historical, literary, crime, thriller, and fantasy, the Glass Bell longlist also includes acclaimed authors, including Booker-shortlisted author The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, which was also recently shortlisted for the Women’s Prize, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and her novel Daughters of Night, and Will Dean with The Last Thing to Burn, both of which have been longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.

The sole fantasy novel on the 2022 Glass Bell longlist is the enthralling bestselling novel Threadneedle by Cari Thomas, which draws readers into the magical city nestled within the boroughs of London.

GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD 2021

Debut author Clare Whitfield has been awarded the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2021 for People of Abandoned Character.

People of Abandoned Character was announced as the winner live at a party at Goldsboro Books at 7.00pm on Thursday 30th September, beating Colum McCann’s Booker-nominated Apeirogon; the New York Times bestselling The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré; and The Devil and the Dark Water, the second novel from Costa-winner Stuart Turton. Also shortlisted were Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi, acclaimed as an inventive and exciting reworking of the detective novel and The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant, a fantastical reimagining of the French Revolution featuring the characters of Les Misérables. Whitfield was awarded £2,000 and a beautiful, handmade glass bell.

Founded in 2017 by David Headley, the co-founder and Managing Director of Goldsboro Books, the Glass Bell is awarded annually to a compelling novel, of any genre – from romance and thrillers, to historical, speculative and literary fiction – with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised.

GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD SHORTLIST

London's Goldsboro Books announced the nominees for the 2021 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award:  a prize “awarded annually to a compelling novel, of any genre—from romance and thrillers, to historical, speculative and literary fiction—with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realized."

The Girl with the Louding Voice, by Abi Daré (Sceptre)
The Court of Miracles, by Kester Grant (HarperVoyager)
Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (Bloomsbury)
Eight Detectives, by Alex Pavesi (Michael Joseph)
The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton (‎Raven)
People of Abandoned Character, by Clare Whitfield (Head of Zeus)

HT: The Rap Sheet

2020 GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2020 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award was announced.

Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle) 
Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Cornerstone) 
Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton) 
The Lost Ones, by Anita Frank (HQ) 
My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic)
The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern (Harvill Secker)

The Glass Bell Award, sponsored by London bookseller Goldsboro Books, celebrates “the best storytelling across contemporary fiction.” This year’s winner will be announced on July 2.

HT: The Rap Sheet

Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award Shortlist

THE GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD

The winner of the prize, which rewards ‘compelling storytelling with brilliant characterization and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realized’ will be announced at the bookshop on Monday 16th September. The prize, which is judged by Goldsboro Books founder and MD David Headley and his team at the bookshop, sees the winner awarded £2,000 and a beautiful, handmade, engraved glass bell.

2019 Glass Bell Shortlist 

Snap by Belinda Bauer (Transworld)
Our House by Louise Candlish (Simon & Schuster)
The Puppet Show by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown)
VOX by Christina Dalcher (HQ)
Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg- Jephcott (Cornerstone)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (Bonnier Zaffre)

Longlist:

HT: The Rap Sheet