Brunel University of London Honorary Professor, Claire Lynch has won the 2025 Nero Gold Prize for her debut novel A Family Matter.
The £30,000 Book of the Year award marks the first time a debut novel has won the prestigious prize.
Professor Lynch received the prize and trophy from award-winning author and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nick Hornby.
A Family Matter tells the story of a family torn apart by secrets, as the lie behind a mother’s long-term absence from her child’s life begins to unravel.
Now an Honorary Professor, Claire Lynch was until 2024, Professor of English and Irish Literature at Brunel where she taught contemporary fiction, modernism and life writing at Brunel. Claire has spent her career teaching literature in universities and lives in Windsor with her wife and three daughters.
"The judges all loved A Family Matter,” Nick Hornby said. “We admired its wry humour, its deft storytelling, and its love for all its characters, even those who behave in ways we find hard to understand, and who make choices which we would regard as morally questionable. It is both readable and intelligent, and it offers hope and consolation.
“We believe that this novel will be read and thought about for years to come, and we very much hope that the prize will help Claire Lynch further establish herself in a literary career which will produce more novels as satisfying as this one.”
Celebrating books across four categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s Fiction), the Nero Book Awards, in association with Brunel University of London are the only major multi-category awards exclusively for writers based in the UK and Ireland. Since launching in 2023, these awards have established themselves as one of the most respected prizes in the literary world, championing outstanding writing and readability. When the shortlists were revealed in November, the 16 nominated books saw an average week-on-week UK sales increase of 75%, in the two weeks following the Shortlist announcement.
A Family Matter tells the story of a family torn apart by secrets across two generations. Maggie has always lived her life with the absence of her mother – her father never speaks of her, and it feels impossible to ask. Then an official letter arrives with news from the past and Maggie must face a truth far bigger than just her family’s secret. This humane story shows how far – or not – we have come as a society. It asks how we might heal from the wounds of the past, and what we might learn from them.
The novel draws on real court cases from the 1980s and is full of hope and levity as well as moments of darkness. Published in May 2025, it has resonated with famous authors including Mark Haddon, Emma Donoghue and Barbara Kingsolver, and been highly praised in the media. The Guardian called it ‘smart and heartbreaking’, whilst The New York Times said it ‘burns like a sparkler, quick and mesmerising’.
“For 2025, our judges have selected a provocative, thought-provoking book which showcases great writing,” said Gerry Ford, Founder of Caffè Nero and The Nero Book Awards. “These Awards were established to discover the best talent being published in the UK and Ireland, and Claire Lynch is a great example of this.”
The Nero Book Awards are a not-for-profit organisation started and managed by independent, family-owned coffee house group Caffè Nero, in partnership with The Booksellers Association, Brunel University of London and Right To Dream. The Awards form part of Caffè Nero’s long-standing Arts Program, reflecting its commitment to the arts, encouragement and recognition of artistic talent and the support for and fostering of a love of reading in communities across the UK and Ireland.
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