The shortlist for the Baillie Gifford Prize celebrating the best of best non-fiction has been announced.
Works ranging from a biography of Lucian Freud to profiles of the women murdered by Jack The Ripper are in contention for the annual honour.
Six books have been shortlisted for the £50,000 prize, which is awarded for the best work of non-fiction, as judged by an expert panel.
Look what just arrived – The first hardback copy of The Five (available 28 Feb in the UK / 9 April in the US). Beneath the newspaper style dust jacket are the women's names – the true stories behind the headlines. #thefivewomen @TransworldBooks @sarahbatua @sophiechristoph pic.twitter.com/5b89WwWNEM
— Hallie Rubenhold (@HallieRubenhold) January 16, 2019
William Feaver has been selected for his work The Lives Of Lucian Freud: Youth, and Hallie Rubenhold for The Five: The Untold Lives Of The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper.
Maoism: A Global History, by Julia Lovell, Guest House For Young Widows, by Azadeh Moaveni, Casey Cep’s Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, And The Last Trial Of Harper Lee, and Laura Cummin’s On Chapel Sands make up the rest of the shortlist.
Stig Abell, chairman of judges, said: “We have picked six books from twelve and it was a gloriously testing, combative process, full of passionate arguments and the changing of minds, concessions and hold-outs.
“I think we’ve ended up with a shortlist full of brilliance and verve, huge scope and evocative detail. I urge everyone to get reading these books.
“They will not be disappointed. The winner, when it emerges, will have beaten some magnificent competition.”
The shortlist has been chosen by a panel chaired by Abell, with Dr Myriam Francois, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Frances Wilson, Petina Gappah and Dr Alexander Van Tulleken.
The winner of the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction will be announced on November 19 at the Science Museum in London.