A huge congratulations to Andrew Fleming, whose book The Gravity of Feathers has been shortlisted for the 2025 Wolfson History Prize, the UK’s most prestigious history writing prize.
The judge’s described the book as ‘an absorbing and powerful book about St Kilda, written with deft humour and human sympathy. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, and social, political and religious history, it brings the island’s story to life.’
In 2025, the shortlist unearths hidden and lesser-known chapters from across history, from the everyday objects used in daily life by the Vikings, to personal narratives of multiculturalism in Britain; incredible stories of Victorian female detectives, to lost accounts from the last captives of the Atlantic slave trade; an intense rivalry between two royal cousins, to a reframing of the demise of a remote Scottish island.
Championing books that combine high-quality writing and research with readability, the books shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 are:
- Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough
(Profile Books) - The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor (Allen
Lane) - Multicultural Britain: A People’s History by Kieran Connell (Hurst Publishing)
- Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Hannah
Durkin (William Collins) - The Gravity of Feathers: Fame, Fortune and the Story of St Kilda by Andrew Fleming
(Birlinn) - The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge (Yale University
Press)
To learn more about the Wolfson History Prize, please visit www.wolfsonhistoryprize.org.uk or
connect on X and Bluesky via @WolfsonHistory / #WolfsonHistoryPrize.
