Clear by Carys Davies has won this year’s Ondaatje prize for writing that “best evokes the spirit of a place”.
The Welsh novelist’s third novel is set on a Scottish island during the Highland Clearances, and follows two men as they form an unlikely bond. On winning the £10,000 award, Davies gave particular thanks to the Faroese linguist Jakob Jakobsen, as his dictionary of the now-extinct Shetland language, first published in 1908, was an invaluable source when she was writing.
