We are delighted to announce that Nick Barlay’s Scattered Ghosts has been longlisted for the JQ-Wingate Literary Prize 2015.

Combining memoir, investigation and travel to resurrect 200 years of wars and revolutions, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire via two totalitarianisms to contemporary Britain, Scattered Ghosts is a family history that explores the events, great and small, on which a family’s existence hinges.

On hearing the news of his nomination Nick Barlay commented: ‘I’m delighted to have been longlisted for the Wingate Prize and honoured to be included on such an illustrious roll-call of names.’

Other longlisted books for the prize include works by Simon Schama’s The Story of the Jews, Gary Shteyngart’s Little Failure, and Ilan Pappe’s The Idea of Israel.

About the prize:

The prestigious JQ-Wingate Literary Prize was established in 1977. Awarding annually £4000 to the best book to translate the idea of Jewishness, it is the only UK award to recognise writing by Jewish and non-Jewish writers that explore themes of Jewish concern in any of its forms.

Previous winners have included W.G. Sebald, Aharon Appelfeld, Bernice Rubens, Zadie Smith and David Grossman.

A full list of this year’s longlist can be found here.

Read an extract from Scattered Ghosts.