Tears flowed among the members of the audience listening to Rachel Clarke’s acceptance speech as she won the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction at the awards ceremony in London’s Bloomsbury. The NHS doctor, author The Story Of A Heart, spoke movingly about the two children who inspired her memoir: nine-year-old Keira Ball, who suffered catastrophic brain injuries and died after a car accident and Max Johnson, who received her heart through a donor transplant.
Kavita Puri, chair of judges for the non-fiction prize, said it had ‘left a deep and long-lasting impression’ on the panel. ‘Clarke’s writing is authoritative, beautiful and compassionate. The research is meticulous, and the storytelling is expertly crafted,’ she said. ‘She holds this precious story with great care and tells it with dignity, interweaving the history of transplant surgery seamlessly.’
Shortlisted alongside for The Story Of A Heart in the non-fiction category were A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry, Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton, Agent Zo: The Untold Story Of Courageous WW2 Resistance Fighter Elżbieta Zawacka by Clare Mulley, What The Wild Sea Can Be: The Future Of The World’s Ocean by Helen Scales and Private Revolutions: Coming Of Age In A New China by Yuan Yang.
The winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction was Dutch writer Yael van der Wouden, who won with her debut, The Safekeep. Set in 1960s Netherlands, it’s the story of two women thrown together in a remote house in the aftermath of World War II and their developing relationship.
Kit de Waal, Chair of Judges for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, said: ‘The Safekeep is that rare thing: a masterful blend of history, suspense and historical authenticity. Every word is perfectly placed, page after page revealing an aspect of war and the Holocaust that has been, until now, mostly unexplored in fiction. It is also a love story with beautifully rendered intimate scenes written with delicacy and compelling eroticism. This astonishing debut is a classic in the making, a story to be loved and appreciated for generations to come. Books like this don’t come along every day.’
Van der Wouden’s debut beat novels by the more established writers Miranda July (All Fours) and Elizabeth Strout (Tell Me Everything). The three other shortlisted books were also first novels: Good Girl by Aria Aber, The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji and Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis.
Both winning authors will receive a £30,000 prize each in recognition of their achievements.
