The £30,000 (about $40,700) 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction was won by Yael van der Wouden for The Safekeep (published in the U.S. by Avid Reader Press/S&S). Organizers described the book as "an unsettling, tightly-plotted debut novel which explores repressed desire and historical amnesia set against the backdrop of the Netherlands post-World War II. The Safekeep is at once a highly-charged, claustrophobic drama played out between two deeply flawed characters, and a bold, insightful exploration of the emotional aftermath of trauma and complicity. Van der Wouden's universally resonant tale cements her as one of contemporary fiction's most exciting new voices."
The £30,000 (about $40,700) 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction was awarded to Dr. Rachel Clarke for The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle that Saved a Child's Life (published in the U.S. by Scribner). Organizers called this "a clear-sighted, vital exploration into the human experience behind organ donation. Interweaving two intimate family stories, we meet nine-year old Kiera who dies following a catastrophic car accident and Max, also nine years old, who faces imminent heart failure due to a viral infection. Through these individual tragedies, Rachel Clarke depicts the expertise and dedication of the countless medical staff who look after Keira in her final hours and those who offer Max a new life. The Story of a Heart is an inspiring and profoundly moving book which celebrates an indefatigable respect for life, the generosity and tenacity of the human spirit, and the sheer miracle of modern science."