Award History
| Award | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Betty Trask Award | 2025 | Winner |
| Betty Trask Award | 2024 | Shortlist |
About This Book
Ashani Lewis's debut novel follows Elen, a thirty-eight-year-old woman newly estranged from her husband, who falls in with a group of wealthy squatters in an abandoned country estate. As the group's dynamics grow sinister and a dark secret emerges, the novel blends psychological suspense with lyrical observation of class, desire, and belonging. It won the Betty Trask Prize in 2025.
About the Author
Ashani Lewis is a British novelist born in London in the late 1990s. She studied at the University of Exeter. Winter Animals (2024, Dialogue Books) is her debut novel, following thirty-eight-year-old Elen who, newly estranged from her husband, falls in with a group of wealthy squatters in an abandoned country estate and is forced to confront the dark secret that binds them together. Read more →
