Waterstones has named The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy, published in the U.S. by HarperOne, as its 2019 Book of the Year and Greta Thunberg, author of No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, published in the U.S. by Penguin Books, as its 2019 Author of the Year.
The company said that the winners "had made an unparalleled impression" on Waterstones booksellers, who nominated titles for the awards. "Amidst a wide-ranging and immensely strong shortlist they stood out to us as the books we most need now: reading to bring people together, inspiring us to act now to save our planet and to affirm the importance of bravery and compassion in a time of uncertainty."
Concerning The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Waterstones wrote: "An online phenomenon, Charlie Mackesy's inspirational paintings and delicate calligraphic text have now been gathered together in this beautifully produced volume. Adored by Nia at our Cardiff shop as a 'delicately illustrated tale that shows love towards yourself and others is the only thing that truly matters,' The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is a moving study in friendship in a troubled world, and the perfect gift for those people that you hold closest in your heart."
As for Greta Thunberg, who has become a worldwide advocate to take action against climate change, Waterstones commented: "No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference documents a seismic political and cultural moment, and frames the defining debate of the twenty-first century so far. Collecting Greta Thunberg's speeches together in one volume, this timely book lays bare the eloquence and fury that drive a global environmental movement. 'The definition of essential reading,' states Ellie at Waterstones--The Economists' Bookshop, and we couldn't agree more."
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The winners of the 2019 Royal Society of Literature Giles St. Aubyn Awards for Nonfiction are:
£10,000 (about $12,930), to Harry Davies for Operation Information, which will be published in 2021. Judges called the book "a modern history of covert British propaganda, revealing Britain's long but little-known tradition of waging information warfare from the Second World War to the present day. Using recently declassified and previously untapped archives, the book investigates how the British government, often in league with the U.S., has used secret propaganda to interfere in political affairs."
£5,000 ($6,465), to Olive Heffernan for The High Seas: The Race to Save the Earth's Last Wilderness, to be published in 2021. The book "explores the two-thirds of our ocean that lie beyond national waters, which have, for most of history, been out of sight. Despite their isolation, the High Seas have long been the backdrop of unending battles over territory and resources. The ocean produces half of the oxygen we breathe. That's every second breath you take and unless we protect the High Seas, we'll be facing a mass extinction of marine life in just over a decade."
The Judges' Special Commendation went to Rebecca Fogg for Beautiful Trauma, to be published in 2022. The book "describes how [Fogg] saved her own life following the partial amputation of her hand and navigated through the resulting emotional trauma by studying her injury and its treatment."