Winners of UK women’s book prizes announced

This year’s winners of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, one of the major literary awards in the UK, were revealed in London.

The prize was awarded to Dutch author Yael van der Wouden for “The Safekeep,” a novel about an unlikely romance in the Netherlands in the 1960s.

Author Kit de Waal, chair of judges for the fiction award, described “The Safekeep” as a “classic in the making” that would be “loved and appreciated for generations to come.”

“Books like this don’t come along every day,” de Waal said. “Every word is perfectly placed, page after page revealing an aspect of war and the Holocaust that has been, until now, mostly unexplored in fiction. It is also a love story with beautifully rendered intimate scenes written with delicacy and compelling eroticism.”

Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care physician, won the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction with her book “The Story of a Heart.” It tells the story of lives of two families connected by a heart transplant: Kira, a nine-year-old who died in a car crash, and Max, who was saved by the donation while struggling with heart failure caused by a viral infection.

“Clarke’s writing is authoritative, beautiful and compassionate. The research is meticulous, and the storytelling is expertly crafted,” Kavita Puri, chair of judges for the non-fiction prize, said. “She holds this precious story with great care and tells it with dignity, interweaving the history of transplant surgery seamlessly.”

The Women’s Prize for Fiction, established in 1996, aims to promote and celebrate English-language fiction written by women. The award is open to authors of any nationality, citizenship, or age.

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