
Winner of the Gordon Burn Prize 2014 & The Bookseller Industry Book of the Year Award 2015 Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize the Desmond Elliott Prize & the Folio Prize & shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize A post-apocalyptic novel set a thousand years ago The Wake tells the story of Buccmaster of Holland a free farmer of Lincolnshire owner of three oxgangs a man clinging to the Old Gods as the world changes drastically around him After losing his sons at the Battle of Hastings & his wife & home to the invading Normans Buccmaster begins to gather together a band of 'grene men' who take up arms to resist their brutal invaders Written in a 'shadow tongue'
- a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable for the modern reader
- The Wake is a landmark in historical fiction & looks set to become a modern classic