We can’t wait to find out which of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction shortlisted books will be crowned as this year’s winner. Our six book clubs selected to shadow the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction have been reading, discussing and reviewing those titles. Keep reading to find out what they thought.
The winner of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction will be announced on Thursday 12 June 2025 at the Women’s Prize Trust’s summer party in central London, along with the winner of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The winner will receive £30,000 and a limited-edition artwork, known as the ‘Charlotte’, created by the sculptor Ann Christopher RA FRSS. Both were gifted by the Charlotte Aitken Trust.
You can watch along to the announcement live via the Women’s Prizes YouTube channel from 6:30pm on 12 June.
Find out what our book clubs thought about the Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist here.
More information can be found on the Women’s Prizes website here.
The shortlist
- The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke
- What the Wild Sea Can Be by Helen Scales
- A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry
- Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang
- Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
- Agent Zo by Clare Mulley
Barton Book Club
Barton Book Club is nestled in a little village in the heart of the midlands. They started during COVID, as many book clubs did, to find a sense of community during dark times. Still a relatively small book club with approximately 10 members meeting at a local pub once a month, they are a close-knit bunch of all ages and occupations who come together with a shared passion for reading. They were selected to read The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke.
All members unanimously thoroughly enjoyed the book, describing it as powerful, thought-provoking and “deeply emotional look into heart transplants and the impact they have on lives.” From the “overwhelmingly powerful systematic weaving of lives” to the illuminating connections, the book is not a light read, but a deeply rewarding one.
To put simply, one member says “Clarke invites readers not just to witness, but to feel—to consider the personal cost, the bravery, and the extraordinary love at the heart of organ donation. It’s a book that stays with you, long after the final page.”
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. They were selected to read What the Wild Sea Can Be by Helen Scales
Overall, the group felt the same way— enjoyable, well written and researched but contained a lot of information which felt overwhelming at times. Many mention the book as “very intelligent, informative and emotive” in the way it weaves “academic and scientific research with an accessible narrative of the past, present, and future of our precious oceans and seas.”
They all “learnt so much about the state of the oceans, the effects of human activity, climate change results, species loss, heroic efforts by individuals and exploitation by mass fishing industries,” one member described it as “at times despairing, other times hopeful, it changed the way I think about ocean life—I am very glad to have read this book.”
Read It! Book Club
Read It! Book Club are a friendly and informal group that meet monthly. The club has been running for nearly 10 years and is based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire with around 10 regular members. They take it in turn to pick book choices and have read a bit of everything over the years. They were selected to read A Thousand Threads by Neneh Cherry.
The group enjoyed discussing the book as “it was split into three parts, and each felt like a very different style.” The book was a “detailed description of several people’s lives” that “sometimes feels like it has become a list of experiences rather than a story.” This meant that there was a lot to discuss, although this is told in a well-written and sometimes amusing manner, with interspersed photos throughout, Neneh’s nomadic lifestyle meant “the number of creative influences so varied it is difficult to follow the threads sometimes.”
One member says the book “touches on the difficulties of fitting in but doesn’t let that take over the narrative and relates the story of the people in her life and the mixture of cultures, talents and traumas they bring without judgment.” Overall, they agreed the book would be an appealing read for fans, with “the next generation seem set to continue her musical legacy which gives the story an upbeat ending.”
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 was held in June 2021, with over twenty active participants. They were selected to read Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang.
Overall, everyone enjoyed the book. Described as a “powerful, important” insight, the book “offers a compelling and eye-opening glimpse into life in modern China.” “Seen through the eyes of women navigating the tides of sweeping social and economic change” during “China’s path toward globalised capitalism,” it follows four compelling personal narratives and their diverse struggles in navigating key issues surrounding “population control policy, abortion rights and the hukou system.”
One member says “as someone who’s lived in China and cares deeply about feminism, I found Yuan Yang’s portrayal of these women’s lives incredibly moving—and quietly radical. It’s not a dramatic story, but that’s exactly the point. The strength and resistance are in the everyday choices, the compromises, the small acts of defiance.”
The Bonnie Wee Book Club
The Bonnie Wee Book Club was formed in the dark days of January 2021 when COVID prevented people 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. They were selected to read Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton.
The majority of members loved the book—finding it an uplifting and heart-warming, “beautifully written” read. With “exceptional drawings” and “interesting information about a relatively unknown species,” the “memoir is thought provoking and told in the backdrop of lockdown” and is “told in a very soft and easy way.”
The book highlighted the “realisation of nature around us and how much humans can influence and destroy habitats” was both “confronting and engaging.”
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. Founded in fitness, and fuelled by friendship, the group has gone from strength to strength with in-person meet ups, as well as regular monthly virtual meetings. They were selected to read Agent Zo by Clare Mulley.
Reviews for the book were mixed (which we find always makes a good book club book), all members unanimously agreed that there was a lot to learn from it. Though the book was dense in detail, the group recognised that most writing on the war is by men, so “when you reach the end of the book and realise the significance of the book, the level of detail becomes important due to it being an otherwise unwritten historical record.”
The title certainly sparked discussions on many key topics including male dominated war history non-fiction books, Poland’s role in war, including the “importance of documentation,” as well as Agent Zo’s “single-minded dedication” such as “her lack of connection/emotion could have been coping mechanism to deal with the horrors of war,” as well as “the fact that her dedication was lifelong and that she continued to advocate for women’s rights.” Overall, the book was a “refreshing read” which “raised awareness.”
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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