Morbey wins inaugural Cheshire Novel Prize for Smoke and Honey

Charlotte Morbey has won the inaugural £1,500 Cheshire Novel Prize with her historical novel Smoke and Honey while Farah Yusuf was highly commended for her cosy mystery Almost Strangers.  

The prize for authors without an agent received 998 entries from 16 countries. Founder Sara Cox said she was looking forward to running the prize again next year.

She told The Bookseller: “The Cheshire Novel Prize showcase featuring all shortlisted, longlisted and top 10% of entrants went out to agents on Tuesday and already we are getting requests for full manuscripts from agents. The standard this year was so high and I am sure filtered submissions for agents is a really useful thing. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for not only Charlotte and Farrah but for all our writers.” 

Morbey’s story was inspired by "comrade marriages" between friends while LGBTQ+ people couldn’t be public about their real relationships. She said she “wanted to explore how something ostensibly fake could also be a genuine, loving commitment”. 

“Winning was a genuine shock, it feels unreal,” she said. "Writing is such a solitary thing so hearing people say they loved it is overwhelming.” 

Yusuf said her character of Sujata Patel, “a nosey net curtain-twitching Miss Marple type” came to her one day “and then the world around her began to appear”..  

She said: "When I was longlisted, I never imagined being shortlisted let alone being highly commended. Like many writers, I sew together fragments of time to write and often feel silly even hoping anyone would read my story so to hear they enjoyed it is incredible."

Judge Clio Cornish, commissioning director at Penguin Random House (PRH), said: "The standard of entries for the Cheshire Novel Prize was incredibly impressive, particularly given that it was the inaugural year – a real testament to Sara’s efforts and the fact she was able to offer so many sponsored places to writers unable to afford to enter.  

“Farrah Yusuf’s highly commended entry was a complete joy to read – inventive, entertaining, and populated by a wonderful cast of memorable characters – and Charlotte Morbey’s winning novel simply blew me away thanks to her mesmerising prose and tender, thoughtful take on powerful themes. I feel very lucky to have been a judge and have the chance to read these wonderful novels.”