Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2016

 

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2016

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Shortlisted for HWA Goldsboro Debut Crown 2016

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Shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize 2016

 

Longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2015 

 

'McCrea is triumphant in creating Lizzie's voice; she is dazzingly convincing. Voices that feel authentic to their period and yet brim with life and verve are so rare that Mrs Engels is my book of the month.'

      --Antonia Senior, The Times

 

'Lizzie is a powerhouse protagonist...as improbable a subject for historical fiction as she is irresistible'

      --Jan Stuart, The New York Times

 

'In this impressive debut, McCrea draws sharp ironies from the gap between theory and actuality...A memorable portrait of a woman looking for a cause of her own, distinct from the one made famous by her husband.'

      --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

 

This incisive novel…outlines a number of radical dislocations—in geography, nationality, class, and even love. If a woman cannot trust her reality, she can hardly trust her husband or herself, and ‘is there a loneliness more lonely than mistrust?’

      --The New Yorker

 

Read more reviews here.