The Matchbox Girl: Winner of the 2026 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

From the multi-award-winning author – a beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel telling the story of a young girl's battle for survival and search for the truth in occupied Vienna **WINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026**'A fierce celebration of the messy nature of humanity itself' Daily Mail'A shimmering masterwork' Alice Austen'An extraordinary novel about resilience' Amanda Craig'A mesmerising tapestry woven across history' Gina Rippon'Gripping and profound. A masterful work of rare complexity that lingers and haunts' Christine LeunensAdelheid Brunner does not speak. She writes and draws instead and her ambition is to own one thousand matchboxes. Her grandmother cannot make sense of this, but Adelheid will stop at nothing to achieve her dream. She makes herself invisible, hiding in cupboards with her pet rat, Franz Joseph, listening in on conversations she can't fully comprehend.Then she meets Dr Asperger, a man who lets children play all day and who recognises the importance of matchboxes. He invites Adelheid to come and live at the Vienna paediatric clinic, where she and other children like herself will live under observation.But the date is 1938 and the place is Vienna – a city of political instability, a place of increasing fear and violence. When the Nazis march into the city, a new world is created and difficult choices must be made.Why are the clinic's children disappearing, and where do they go? Adelheid starts to suspect that some of Dr Asperger's games are played for the highest stakes. In order to survive, she must play a game whose rules she cannot yet understand.Triumphant and tragic, soulful and spirited, The Matchbox Girl is a burningly brilliant book – that brings the stories of a generation of lost children into the light.'A vividly imagined story told with real drive and heart' Rachel Seiffert'Unique and profoundly human' Emma Darwin'One of the most charismatic and companionable narrators I've ever come across' Toby Litt'The sheer brilliance of Alice Jolly's writing stopped me in my tracks, stole my breath' Angela Findlay'An important, powerful book, so real I couldn't put it down' Kathleen Jones Read more