2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction

Rachel Clarke blends memoir, medical writing, and investigative narrative to tell the story of a heart — both a literal organ and a symbol of love, grief, and care. With characteristic compassion, she examines the science of cardiology alongside deeply personal stories from patients and families. Clarke writes with lyrical precision, inviting readers into the emotional and ethical complexities of modern medicine. The book is at once scientific and intimate, asking profound questions about what keeps us alive in every sense. Moving, humane, and beautifully crafted.

Chloe Dalton’s memoir chronicles her journey as an elite athlete and advocate for women’s sport, interwoven with reflections on identity, resilience, and ambition. She writes with clarity and vulnerability about the pressures of professional competition and the joy of pursuing excellence. Dalton also confronts systemic inequalities in sport, drawing attention to the work still needed to achieve fairness and visibility. Her voice is inspiring without being sentimental, grounded in lived experience and thoughtful analysis. It’s a compelling read for anyone interested in sport, activism, or personal growth.

In Ootlin, Jenni Fagan blends memoir, poetry, and political critique to explore her childhood in the Scottish care system. Her writing is fierce, lyrical, and uncompromising, confronting trauma while refusing to let it define her. Fagan’s storytelling moves fluidly through time, evoking both the vulnerability of her younger self and the creative power she later forged. The book exposes systemic failures with clear-eyed anger while also celebrating resilience and imagination. It’s a raw, brilliant testament to survival and self-invention.

Clare Mulley uncovers the extraordinary life of Elżbieta Zawacka — code name Agent Zo — one of the only women to serve as a courier for the Polish resistance who later joined Allied special forces. Mulley’s research is meticulous, revealing Zawacka’s courage, complexity, and the moral weight of resistance work. The narrative balances thrilling wartime episodes with thoughtful reflection on gender, nationhood, and sacrifice. Mulley restores a remarkable woman to her rightful place in history. It’s gripping, moving, and essential.

Helen Castor offers a gripping dual biography of Richard II and Henry IV, two kings whose intertwined fates reshaped England’s monarchy. With her hallmark clarity, she brings political intrigue, personal rivalry, and high-stakes drama into sharp focus. Castor uses contemporary chronicles to illuminate how power was negotiated, performed, and contested in the late medieval period. Her storytelling is elegant and immersive, revealing both the human flaws of the rulers and the fragility of medieval governance. It’s a book that will satisfy history lovers and newcomers alike.

In this intimate memoir, Neneh Cherry reflects on a life shaped by music, collaboration, activism, and creative reinvention. She writes with honesty and warmth about her unconventional childhood, her artistic breakthroughs, and the relationships that sustained and challenged her. Cherry captures the exhilaration of making art while navigating identity, motherhood, race, and belonging. The book feels like a conversation — candid, rhythmic, and full of emotional intelligence. It’s a portrait of a life lived boldly, and an exploration of how creativity becomes both refuge and expression.

Helen Scales takes readers on a sweeping journey through the world’s oceans, blending scientific insight with lyrical storytelling. She explores marine ecosystems, climate change, and the future of ocean conservation with both urgency and wonder. Scales’s writing makes complex science feel intuitive and alive, inviting readers to care deeply about the sea’s mysteries and its fragility. The book is filled with surprising facts, vivid imagery, and emotional resonance. It’s a powerful call to protect the ocean — and a celebration of everything that makes it extraordinary.

Harriet Wistrich offers a powerful account of her career as a lawyer fighting for women failed by the justice system. Through landmark cases involving domestic violence, sexual assault, and institutional neglect, she exposes systemic biases that harm victims and shield perpetrators. Wistrich writes with conviction and moral clarity, balancing legal detail with human stories. Her advocacy work is inspiring, sobering, and urgent. The book is a call for reform — and for believing women’s experiences.

Yuan Yang follows four young women navigating opportunity, pressure, ambition, and constraint in 21st-century China. Through intimate reporting and personal connection, she reveals how economic transformation has reshaped daily life and identity. Yang’s writing is empathetic and analytical, attentive to both structural forces and individual dreams. The book captures a China rarely seen in Western narratives — nuanced, fast-changing, and deeply human. It’s a compelling window into a generation balancing hope and uncertainty.

Lulu Miller’s genre-defying book blends biography, memoir, scientific exploration, and philosophical inquiry with playful brilliance. Using the life of taxonomist David Starr Jordan as a jumping-off point, she investigates order, chaos, and the stories we tell to make sense of ourselves. Miller’s voice is charming, curious, and occasionally devastating, weaving personal reflection into scientific narrative. The book is surprising at every turn, moving from humour to heartbreak with ease. A beautifully odd, unforgettable meditation on meaning and resilience.

Eleanor Barraclough brings the Viking Age to life in surprising and imaginative ways, unearthing stories rarely told in traditional histories. Her research spans archaeology, sagas, folklore, and material culture, revealing a world richer and stranger than its popular image. Barraclough writes with enthusiasm and narrative flair, making ancient history feel vivid and approachable. She highlights overlooked voices — women, travellers, enslaved people, and artists — to complicate long-held assumptions about Viking society. The result is a book full of discovery, nuance, and intellectual delight.

Rebecca Nagle’s powerful narrative traces generations of Cherokee resistance and survival, focusing on land rights, sovereignty, and the enduring legacy of Indigenous activism. She weaves personal history with legal battles and cultural storytelling, creating a book that is both intimate and politically urgent. Nagle’s voice is clear, passionate, and deeply grounded in community. The result is a work that challenges settler narratives while offering a vision of justice built across generations. It’s essential reading for understanding Indigenous history and the fight for rights in the present day.

Anne Applebaum’s latest work is a chilling, incisive examination of the global networks that bind together today’s authoritarian regimes. Drawing on decades of reporting, she traces how strongmen collaborate, share tactics, and undermine democratic norms across borders. Applebaum writes with clarity and moral force, weaving historical context with contemporary case studies to demonstrate the scale of the threat. Her analysis is rigorous but highly readable, making complex geopolitical dynamics accessible without ever oversimplifying. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the political landscape of the 21st century — and what must be done to protect democratic institutions.

Sue Prideaux offers a richly detailed, unflinching biography of Paul Gauguin, examining both his artistic brilliance and his deeply troubling personal life. Prideaux does not shy away from the contradictions and moral failings of her subject, instead placing his work within a complex web of colonialism, exploitation, and myth-making. Her writing is stylish and incisive, bringing both the man and his artistic world vividly to life. This is biography at its most challenging and rewarding, inviting readers to confront the uneasy relationship between art and the artist.

Kate Summerscale returns with another meticulously researched true-crime narrative, this time investigating the infamous murders at 10 Rillington Place. She reconstructs the case with forensic precision while situating it within the broader social anxieties of postwar Britain. Summerscale’s storytelling is subtle, measured, and atmospheric, drawing readers into a world of unreliable witnesses, fraught domestic lives, and shifting public trust. The book is not just about crime, but about how stories of crime shape culture and memory. A gripping and intelligent contribution to literary true crime.

In Tracker, Alexis Wright crafts an expansive, polyphonic portrait of Tracker Tilmouth, an Aboriginal leader, thinker, and activist. Drawing from interviews, oral histories, and collective storytelling, she builds a biography that resists linear structure and embraces Indigenous forms of knowledge. The result is a sweeping, unconventional, and deeply political work. Wright’s prose is powerful and layered, weaving together voices to honour a life committed to justice and community. It’s a landmark of Indigenous nonfiction and a profound reading experience.