Books by Rachel Seiffert
“Rachel Seiffert’s novel explores a time in Germany which we often forget. In Once the Deed is Done readers are faced with the dilemmas of ordinary Germans, not all of whom by any means were Nazis or supported Hitler, in the face of German defeat, plus the plight of the millions of workers forcibly displaced to prop up Hitler’s war machine. Readers will be asked: What is complicity? What is survival? What does ‘returning home’ mean when your homeland has been traded as part of the war’s ‘hazardous, dirty backwash’, in the Guardian’s memorable phrase? Like all first-class novelists, Rachel Seiffert embraces the difficult questions through the characters she creates and the scenes she sets.” Read more...
The Best Historical Fiction of 2026
Katharine Grant, Historical Novelist
Interviews where books by Rachel Seiffert 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 War of the Roses.
