An Ealing author has been shortlisted for a prize at this year’s Romantic Novel of the Year Awards 2026.
Nicola Rayner’s novel The Paris Dancer has been nominated for the Saga Romance Award, one of several category prizes to be presented when the awards take place on 18 May at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City. The awards are organised by the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
The Paris Dancer, released in 2025, is set in wartime France and is inspired by the story of a Jewish ballroom dancer living in Paris during the World War II.
Ms Rayner, who was born in South Wales, previously worked as a journalist before turning to fiction. Her debut novel, The Girl Before You, was described by the The Observer as “the new Girl on the Train” and has since been translated into multiple languages and optioned for television. Her second novel, You and Me, was published in 2020.
Ms Rayner said: “I’m over the moon that The Paris Dancer has been shortlisted for the Saga Romance Award at this year’s RoNAs. I’m looking forward to dressing in my glitziest 1940s frock and dancing all the way to the ceremony.”
