The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction inaugural international celebration of women’s non-fiction writing—is celebrating 2025’s exceptional shortlist by joining six book clubs from across the UK to read and discuss the wonderful titles. Read on to meet each of the clubs, find out what makes them special and which titles they’ll be reading.
Barton Book Club
Nestled in a little village in the heart of the midlands is where the Barton Book Club is based. We started during COVID as many book clubs did to find a sense of community during dark times. We then ventured face to face when the rule of 6 when enforced sitting in gardens chatting about the books we’ve read. Still a relatively small book club with approximately 10 members meeting at a local pub once a month, we are a close-knit bunch of all ages (20s to early 60s) and occupations who come together with our shared passion of reading. Each month, an individual chooses 3 books, and we choose which out of the three we want to read so it’s fair and we get a good mix of different books to read which is the great part of a book club!
We are super excited to be shadowing the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction as we very rarely read non-fiction, so this is a great way to step out of our comfort zone and read something new!
Barton Book Club are reading The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke
Gloucester Book Club
Founded 12 years ago, the Gloucester Book Club is a vibrant community of 60 avid readers united by a shared love of storytelling and discovery. Our members span diverse ages, professions, and backgrounds, creating rich, multifaceted discussions that bridge perspectives. Over the years, we’ve honed our passion for literary exploration by shadowing prestigious awards such as the Booker Prize, the International Booker Prize, and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize – experiences that have deepened our appreciation for global voices and genre-spanning narratives.
While we’ve celebrated fiction and nonfiction alike, this year marks a special milestone: our first time shadowing the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, an opportunity we embrace with enthusiasm as we delve into Helen Scales’ What the Wild Sea Can Be. This compelling work—examining humanity’s relationship with the ocean—resonates deeply with our commitment to books that challenge, educate, and inspire. Beyond our lively monthly meetings, we extend our literary conversations to a broader audience through our podcast, Books and Chat, where we dissect themes, debate ideas, and celebrate the stories that move us. We’re thrilled to bring our curiosity to this new chapter, championing women’s voices in nonfiction and continuing our mission to connect, learn, and grow through the power of words.
Gloucester Book Club are reading What the Wild Sea Can Be by Helen Scales
Read It! Book Club
We are a friendly and informal group that meet monthly on the 1st Thursday. We have been running for nearly 10 years now, although we meet at the local pub, I swear we do read the books! The club is based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and we have around 10 regular members. We take it in turn to pick book choices for the group, and we have read a bit of everything over the years, including some non-fiction and young adult books. Once we have finished discussing the book we give it a score out of 10 and move on to more general chat about what else we have been reading.
Read It! Book Club are reading A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry
The Berko Book Club
The Berko Club provides a friendly space for book-loving residents of Berkhamsted and the local area. The first in-person meeting of the Berko Book Club was held in June 2021, with a regular membership of between three to six people. We now meet in a much larger upstairs room of the Crystal Palace pub with over twenty active participants. Books are suggested by members and put to the vote – we often know the line up in advance, this is to give people time to find copies second-hand and in local libraries. Meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month, apart from December – when we meet on the first Thursday. Our December meet-up is held alongside a festive meal where we exchange wrapped pre-loved books in a secret Santa-style book swap.
The Berko Book Club are reading Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang
The Bonnie Wee Book Club
The Bonnie Wee Book Club was formed in the dark days of January 2021 when Covid prevented us from enjoying each other’s company. To make things a little bit more bearable, Elaine Sinclair invited friends and family to join her book club and would deliver book “goody bags” each month to the book club members containing the book of the month and some other wee treats. At the end of the month, the group would come together on Zoom to animatedly discuss the book of the month. There was no pressure to join in every month and the numbers started to grow and grow.
Four years later, The Bonnie Wee Book Club has transformed into a group of over 200+ members on Facebook and even sparked the opening of a new independent bookshop by Elaine. Elaine took the plunge and left her corporate job in 2024 and opened Daydreams Bookshop in Milngavie in September. Partly fuelled and funded by members of the Book Club, it has been a joy to watch the bookshop blossom in the community and the Book Club meetings now take place in the beautiful surroundings of the award-winning bookshop – with two sittings every month!
The Bonnie Wee Book Club aims to bring people from different walks of life together and provides a space for people to get to know each other in a warm and friendly environment, to indulge their love of reading and books, and to forge new friendships. If you can’t join us in person, we would love for you to follow us on social media for book inspiration or listen along to our chatty podcast ‘The Unfinished Story by Daydreams Bookshop’.
The Bonnie Wee Book Club are reading Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
UK Ladies Peloton Book Club
This virtual book group formed at the start of the pandemic with the aim of putting down phones and picking up books instead and now has many members in its very active Facebook group contributing to the book-related chat. Founded in fitness, and fuelled by friendship, the group has gone from strength to strength with in-person meet ups (the photo was from their latest festive book swap brunch), as well as regular monthly virtual meetings (Agent Zo marks the 53rd monthly book they have read together). Their reading tastes are as varied as their members who span the entire length of the UK (as well as a few members overseas) from all walks of life – students, pilots, lecturers, yoga teachers, therapists, retirees. They choose a theme each month and then vote on related books and have also been really lucky to have been joined by some authors over the years.
UK Ladies Peloton Book Club are reading Agent Zo by Clare Mulley
Get involved
Are you interested in reading any of the shortlisted titles? Find out more about the shortlist here.
What do you think of the 2025 shortlisted titles? Which have you read and what will be added to your TBR pile? Add your comments below, or click any title above to leave a review.
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Keep up with all the latest news on the Women’s Prize website.
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