Kate Atkinson has become the first writer to receive the Costa novel prize thrice. This year, 2016, marks her third Costa win for A God in Ruins. She previously won the award for her works Life after Life in 2013, and for Behind the Scenes at the Museum in 1995.

According to Atkinson, A God in Ruins is “a companion piece” rather than a sequel to her previous novel, Life after Life. Further­more, says Atkinson, “A God in Ruins is possibly the best novel I’ve written so it is absolutely wonderful to have it validated in this way. I’m delighted that it has been chosen as Costa novel of the year, after Life after Life was similarly recognised.”

The judges described this year’s win as “utterly magnificent and in a class of its own.” A God in Ruins came out as the favourite over Anne Enright’s The Green Road, Patrick Gale’s A Place Called Winter and Melissa Harrison’s At Hawthorn Time.