Book of the Year - Fiction 2025
Book of the Year - Fiction Winner and Shortlist
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This year’s Fiction shortlist is crowded with literary heavyweights whose critically acclaimed books sold in serious numbers in 2024, aided by distinctive cover art and inventive and ambitious campaigns which found them the widest possible readership.
The Winner
James
Percival Everett
Mantle
Percival Everett’s James won this category for his blazing reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. For our judges, James is a “future classic”, a “gripping, “stunning” and “beautifully executed” story.
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 2024, Everett’s 24th novel is “full of wit and emotion”. Our judges were impressed with Mantle’s efforts to break him out of a small literary readership; James’ “vibrant” – and now iconic – orange book jacket with its vivid typography was a bold move from the publisher that “instantly brought the story up to date”.
Our judges agreed that Mantle’s full might was put behind publication with eight sold-out events in six days, plus appearances on the Waterstones and Hatchards podcasts, which helped secure Everett’s first-ever Sunday Times best- seller position. When crowning James the winner, our panel agreed that the story delivers “the message the world needs right now”.
The Shortlist
All Fours
Miranda July
Canongate
A superlead title for Canongate, who has been publishing Miranda July, film-maker, artist and author, for 18 years. All Fours was announced with an interview in both US and UK Vogue. Pre-publication, fans were offered the chance to win a special limited-edition print of the author’s artwork. A sold-out four-city UK tour had to be cancelled at the last minute due to ill-heath but the book sparked a new conversation about the female experience of midlife, with a Guardian feature about women who had upending their lives after reading All Fours.
Intermezzo
Sally Rooney
Faber
A striking cover design for Sally Rooney’s fourth novel echoed the author’s maturation as a novelist. Intermezzo tackles grief and the central relationship is between two brothers. To entice fans to venture out to their local bookshop to buy on publication day, Faber worked with 60 UK and Irish bookshops opening early and sent event packs with bespoke jackets, coffee cups, T-shirts, enamel pins, chess sets and more, seeking to minimise the environmental impact of all materials. Intermezzo spent 17 weeks in the bestseller lists.
James
Percival Everett
Mantle
Percival Everett’s 24th novel, a powerful reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the perspective of Huck’s friend, the enslaved Jim, is the American author’s first UK bestseller. An exclusive edition was produced for indie bookshops and striking outdoor special-build advertising in London Bridge caught the eye of passing commuters. The author tour encompassed eight sold-out events over six days, including a Q&A at the Ritzy Picturehouse. James was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and topped The Bookseller’s digest of end-of-year highlights lists.
Long Island
Colm Tóibín
Picador
Colm Tóibín’s sequel to the much-loved Costa Novel Award-winning Brooklyn, continuing the story of Eilis Lacey, was a huge hit for Picador, with Long Island surpassing the former’s hardback sales in just seven months. Jessie Buckley was commissioned to read the audiobook and video content and a special Q&A with the actor were used to cross-promote all other editions of the novel. BBC Radio 4 featured no fewer than four interviews with the author during publication year and the author undertook an extensive UK tour.
Think Again
Jacqueline Wilson
Bantam
With Think Again, Bantam’s challenge was to launch former Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson as an adult fiction brand. The cover reveal of this adult sequel to the Girls series, with the characters now turning 40, generated 13.3 million views. Two special editions were produced, one for Waterstones and one for indies. Marketing activity was unified with the campaign line: "Jacqueline Wilson Raised Me" which was emblazoned on T-shirts and tote bags and a 1990s photo booth was installed in Waterstones Manchester Arndale.
You Are Here
David Nicholls
Sceptre
David Nicholl’s eighth novel, a tender and hilarious midlife love story, was also his eighth number one, and the biggest hardback of his career to date. Sceptre began by partnering with Waterstones to dispatch more than 3,000 proofs to every shop in the country. Pre-publication publicity was cleverly tailored to maximise interest in You Are Here when Netflix released its adaptation of One Day. Hodder’s biggest marketing campaign of 2024 and the author’s touring schedule began with a sold-out 800-seater event at Southbank Centre and continued with more than 50 events nationwide.
