Lucy Steeds's debut The Artist is Waterstones Book of the Year 2025
Waterstones named The Artist, Lucy Steeds's debut novel set in 1920s Provence, its Book of the Year 2025, after it had won the chain's debut prize.
Waterstones announced on 27 November 2025 that its Book of the Year was The Artist by Lucy Steeds, a debut novel published by John Murray.
The book is set over a summer in 1920s Provence and centres on a young English would-be journalist, an ageing painter and the painter's niece. In July 2025 it had won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, so it took both of the chain's main fiction awards in the same year.
The prize was founded in 2012 and is chosen by Waterstones booksellers, who nominate and vote for the shortlist and the winner from books published in the preceding twelve months. The winner receives sustained promotion in shops and online.
A debut winning a prize decided by booksellers is a reminder of how much the people behind the till still influence what readers pick up. It also suggests that a first novel, given early and consistent support from a retailer, can reach a large audience within a year. That is encouraging for new writers, even if such outcomes remain rare.
Sources: The Bookseller: Waterstones names Lucy Steeds' The Artist as Book of the Year; Wikipedia: Lucy Steeds.