“Tenderness of Wolves” wins Costa Book of the Year award

It used to be the Whitbread Book Awards. Beginning this year, it’s under different sponsorship as the Costa Book Awards. Whatever you call it, it’s a major literary award in the United Kingdom—actually a series of awards that recognizes the top books in different categories and then names the best of those bests as the Costa Book of the Year. Announced only moments ago in London, the 2006 Costa Book of the Year is The Tenderness of Wolves, by Stef Penney. A gripping mystery set in nineteenth-century Canada, this title was named the Costa First Novel Award winner in January and was picked from among the following esteemed group of other 2006 Costa winners:

• Costa Novel Award: Restless, by William Boyd
• Costa Children’s Book Award: Set in Stone, by Linda Newbery
• Costa Poetry Award: Letter to Patience, by John Haynes
• Costa Biography Award: Keeping Mum, by Brian Thompson