Every Costa Novel Award winner, 1971–2021

The Costa Novel Award went to 51 books from 1971 to 2021. The novel category of the Costa Book Awards: the Whitbread Novel Award from 1971 to 2005, and the Costa from 2006 until the awards ended in 2022. The last winner was Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (2021). The most readable is Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín (difficulty 41/100, about 5.2 hours); the hardest is The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (79/100). The quickest to finish is The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnston, at about 2.8 hours.

How book difficulty is measured

2021

• Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
• The High House by Jessie Greengrass — shortlist
• The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed — shortlist
• The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak — shortlist

2020

• The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey — difficulty 55/100, about 4.1 hours, Book of the Year
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke — shortlist
• Peace Talks by Tim Finch — shortlist
• The Less Dead by Denise Mina — shortlist

2019

• Middle England by Jonathan Coe — difficulty 51/100, about 7.4 hours
• Confession with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach — shortlist
• Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan — shortlist
• Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor — shortlist

2018

• Normal People by Sally Rooney — difficulty 63/100, about 6.4 hours
• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker — shortlist
• The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman — shortlist
• From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan — shortlist

2017

• Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor — difficulty 67/100, about 8.4 hours
• Under a Pole Star by Stef Penney — shortlist
• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie — shortlist
• Tin Man by Sarah Winman — shortlist

2016

• Days Without End by Sebastian Barry — difficulty 49/100, about 4.8 hours, Book of the Year
• This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell — shortlist
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry — shortlist
• The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain — shortlist

2015

• A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson — difficulty 49/100, about 9.6 hours
• The Green Road by Anne Enright — shortlist
• A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale — shortlist
• At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison — shortlist

2014

• How to Be Both by Ali Smith — difficulty 76/100, about 11 hours
• The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee — shortlist
• House of Ashes by Monique Roffey — shortlist
• Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín — shortlist

2013

• Life After Life by Kate Atkinson — difficulty 67/100, about 14 hours
• Unexpected Lessons in Love by Bernardine Bishop — shortlist
• Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell — shortlist
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld — shortlist

2012

• Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel — difficulty 59/100, about 11 hours, Book of the Year
• Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May — shortlist
• The Heart Broke In by James Meek — shortlist
• Days of the Bagnold Summer by Joff Winterhart — shortlist

2011

• Pure by Andrew Miller — difficulty 56/100, about 6.3 hours, Book of the Year
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes — shortlist
• A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside — shortlist
• My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young — shortlist

2010

• The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell — difficulty 53/100, about 6.4 hours
• Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty — shortlist
• The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale — shortlist
• Skippy Dies by Paul Murray — shortlist

2009

• Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín — difficulty 41/100, about 5.2 hours
• Family Album by Penelope Lively — shortlist
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel — shortlist
• The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson — shortlist

2008

• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry — difficulty 60/100, about 8 hours, Book of the Year
• The Other Hand by Chris Cleave — shortlist
• A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernières — shortlist
• Trauma by Patrick McGrath — shortlist

2007

• Day by A. L. Kennedy — difficulty 52/100, about 4.9 hours, Book of the Year
• Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett — shortlist
• Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson — shortlist
• The Road Home by Rose Tremain — shortlist

2006

• Restless by William Boyd
• Saving Caravaggio by Neil Griffiths — shortlist
• A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon — shortlist
• Black Swan Green by David Mitchell — shortlist

2005

• The Accidental by Ali Smith — difficulty 58/100, about 6 hours
• A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby — shortlist
• Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie — shortlist
• The Ballad of Lee Cotton by Christopher Wilson — shortlist

2004

• Small Island by Andrea Levy — difficulty 69/100, about 16 hours, Book of the Year
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson — shortlist
• Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières — shortlist
• The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst — shortlist

2003

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon — difficulty 53/100, about 4.4 hours, Book of the Year
• The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk — shortlist
• Heligoland by Shena Mackay — shortlist
• Frankie & Stankie by Barbara Trapido — shortlist

2002

• Spies by Michael Frayn — difficulty 58/100, about 5.2 hours
• White Lightning by Justin Cartwright — shortlist
• Rumours of a Hurricane by Tim Lott — shortlist
• The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor — shortlist

2001

• Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate — difficulty 55/100, about 7.5 hours
• The Siege by Helen Dunmore — shortlist
• Atonement by Ian McEwan — shortlist
• Oxygen by Andrew Miller — shortlist

2000

• English Passengers by Matthew Kneale — difficulty 55/100, about 13 hours, Book of the Year
• Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson — shortlist
• What Are You Like? by Anne Enright — shortlist
• When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro — shortlist
• How the Dead Live by Will Self — shortlist

1999

• Music and Silence by Rose Tremain — difficulty 54/100, about 13 hours
• Being Dead by Jim Crace — shortlist
• Headlong by Michael Frayn — shortlist
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris — shortlist

1998

• Leading the Cheers by Justin Cartwright — difficulty 50/100, about 4.1 hours
• The Catastrophist by Ronan Bennett — shortlist
• The Travelling Hornplayer by Barbara Trapido — shortlist

1997

• Quarantine by Jim Crace — difficulty 67/100, about 7.9 hours
• The Untouchable by John Banville — shortlist
• Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty — shortlist
• Enduring Love by Ian McEwan — shortlist
• Bleeding London by Geoff Nicholson — shortlist

1996

• Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge — difficulty 76/100, about 7.3 hours
• Mr Clive & Mr Page by Neil Bartlett — shortlist
• Cocaine Nights by J. G. Ballard — shortlist
• Asylum by Patrick McGrath — shortlist
• Last Orders by Graham Swift — shortlist
• Worst Fears by Fay Weldon — shortlist

1995

• The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie — difficulty 62/100, about 9.3 hours
• The Information by Martin Amis — shortlist
• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker — shortlist
• In Every Face I Meet by Justin Cartwright — shortlist
• The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro — shortlist

1994

• Felicia's Journey by William Trevor — difficulty 51/100, about 4.3 hours, Book of the Year

1993

• Theory of War by Joan Brady — difficulty 60/100, about 4.4 hours, Book of the Year

1992

• Poor Things by Alasdair Gray — difficulty 70/100, about 8.1 hours

1991

• The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam — difficulty 55/100, about 4.2 hours

1990

• Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley — difficulty 62/100, about 13 hours, Book of the Year

1989

• The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke — difficulty 61/100, about 11 hours

1988

• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie — difficulty 79/100, about 26 hours

1987

• The Child in Time by Ian McEwan — difficulty 55/100, about 6 hours

1986

• An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro — difficulty 70/100, about 7.1 hours, Book of the Year

1985

• Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd — difficulty 64/100, about 9.4 hours

1984

• Kruger's Alp by Christopher Hope — difficulty 54/100, about 4.9 hours

1983

• Fools of Fortune by William Trevor — difficulty 53/100, about 4.8 hours

1982

• Young Shoulders by John Wain — difficulty 52/100, about 2.9 hours

1981

• Silver's City by Maurice Leitch — difficulty 51/100, about 3 hours

1980

• How Far Can You Go? by David Lodge — difficulty 54/100, about 4.3 hours, Book of the Year

1979

• The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnston — difficulty 53/100, about 2.8 hours

1978

• Picture Palace by Paul Theroux — difficulty 55/100, about 6.3 hours

1977

• Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge — difficulty 47/100, about 3.3 hours

1976

• The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor — difficulty 53/100, about 3.7 hours

1975

• Docherty by William McIlvanney — difficulty 50/100, about 5.4 hours

1974

• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch — difficulty 63/100, about 12 hours

1973

• The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul — difficulty 53/100, about 5.5 hours

1972

• The Bird of Night by Susan Hill — difficulty 54/100, about 3.3 hours

1971

• The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles — difficulty 51/100, about 7.2 hours

Questions

Who won the Costa Novel Award in 2021?

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller.

Which Costa Novel Award winner should I read first?

For the gentlest start, Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín: the easiest of the winners to read, with a difficulty of 41/100 and about 5.2 hours of reading. For the quickest, The Old Jest by Jennifer Johnston, about 2.8 hours.

Which Costa Novel Award winner is the hardest to read?

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, with a difficulty of 79/100; it takes about 26 hours.

Who has won the Costa Novel Award more than once?

William Trevor (1976, 1983 and 1994), Beryl Bainbridge (1977 and 1996), Salman Rushdie (1988 and 1995), Ali Smith (2005 and 2014), Sebastian Barry (2008 and 2016) and Kate Atkinson (2013 and 2015).

How long would it take to read every Costa Novel Award winner?

About 363 hours at an average reading pace, for the 49 winners with a measured length.

Winners from Wikipedia, checked 2026-10-31.

Other prizes: Nobel Prize in Literature, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, International Booker Prize, National Book Award for Fiction, Women's Prize for Fiction, Hugo Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award for Best Novel, Prix Goncourt, Dublin Literary Award, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, National Book Award for Nonfiction, Albert J. Beveridge Award, Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. Every literary prize; every winner of 2026.