Books by Alice Jolly
“In The Matchbox Girl, Alice Jolly offers us an entirely original heroine in Adelheid Brunner, a girl who does not speak but through whose distinctive voice we hear how care for ‘different’ children in the Vienna Children’s Hospital gradually turned into something else. The story is not straightforward. The dilemmas, confusions, twisting of language and pretences necessary to remain human and actually survive in the hell of those times grip the reader, and once you’ve met Adelheid you won’t want to leave her.” Read more...
The Best Historical Fiction of 2026
Katharine Grant, Historical Novelist
Interviews where books by Alice Jolly were recommended
The Best Historical Fiction of 2026, recommended by Katharine Grant
Every year, the judges for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction make a shortlist of the best new historical novels published over the previous twelve months. We spoke to Katharine Grant, prize judge and highly acclaimed author, about the five books that made the 2026 shortlist—from a “haunting and haunted” tale of triple murder on a Scottish island to a “gloriously told” reimagining of real-life intrigue during England’s Wars of the Roses.
