The nation's favourite historical novel

    You may remember that the Walter Scott Prize recently asked us all to nominate our favourite historical novel. From the titles submitted they compiled a poll, the results of which have been announced today, and the top three books are perhaps no surprise:

    Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall wins, Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth is second, and a close third comes The Game of Kings, the first of Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles.