A Somerset writer has been longlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize — with a chilling West Country drama that's already scooped another top award.

Local author Andrew Miller's new novel The Land in Winter has wowed judges and won the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Now it's in the running for the Booker Prize — one of the biggest accolades in British books.

Miller, who lives in Somerset and is an Associate of the Wells Festival of Literature, sets his latest tale during the infamous winter of 1962. The story follows two couples snowed in by a blizzard — with nowhere to hide from the secrets tearing their lives apart.

Readers may remember Miller from his 2022 appearance at the Wells Festival, where he spoke about The Slowworm's Song, a powerful story of memory and guilt from a former soldier.

This isn't Miller's first brush with the Booker. He was shortlisted back in 2001 for Oxygen, and has a string of awards to his name — including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Costa Novel Award.

When he's not writing, Miller keeps busy with a range of hobbies — from sailing and aikido to playing mandolin in a folk band. He's been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 2012.