The Spirit Engineer wins the HWA Debut Crown Award
The Spirit Engineer by A.J. West has won the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) Debut Crown Award 2022.
Set in Belfast, 1914, this haunting historical fiction centres on high society’s obsession with spiritualism following the sinking of the Titanic, attending seances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.
Based on the true story of Professor William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, The Spirit Engineer explores this subject through one man’s conflict with experiences of power and paranoia.
Ayo Onatade, chair of the Debut Crown Award judges, called The Spirit Engineer “an amazing story that is Gothic and spooky at its best. Fantastic.”
Author and prize winner A.J. West said: “I’m so proud to have won this award. Bringing William Jackson Crawford’s incredible story to life has been the most challenging but rewarding endeavour of my life. I hope the success The Spirit Engineer has achieved with Duckworth Books will inspire other writers to keep fighting and – just like my characters in my debut novel – believe in the impossible.”
Duckworth’s Matt Casbourne said: “All of us at Duckworth Books are elated with the news that The Spirit Engineer has won this prestigious award. A.J. and I worked tirelessly on the manuscript to create something that would delight readers and the response has been beyond our expectations. To win an award recognising his literary talents is the best way to close out 2022.”
