Debut novelist wins major book award for story inspired by lesbian mothers

Debut novelist Claire Lynch has won the gold prize at the Nero Book Awards for A Family Matter, which was inspired by the true stories of lesbian women who lost custody of their children in the 1980s.

Nick Hornby, chair of the judges, said the book was "both readable and intelligent" and "will be read and thought about for years to come".

Lynch received the Nero Book Awards' debut fiction accolade last month, and has now also received the overall prize for the best book of 2025.

She is an honorary professor at Brunel University of London, which is among the prizes' sponsors. A spokesman for the awards said the university "had no say or influence over the choice of winner".

Hornby said the judges "all loved" A Family Matter.

"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," he said.

"It is both readable and intelligent, and it offers hope and consolation."

Hornby was one of three judges, alongside BBC journalist Reeta Chakrabarti and novelist and TV drama Victoria's creator Daisy Goodwin.

A Family Matter jumps between the story of a father and daughter in the present day and 1982 to reveal why the mother had disappeared from their lives.

Lynch said she was inspired after discovering a statistic saying up to 90% of lesbian women who were married to and had children with men in the 1980s lost legal custody of their children in divorce cases.

She told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour there was "pressure put upon families to say, the best thing to do in this situation is to remove this source of embarrassment and shame, to take this mother away from the family".

She said: "The intention was, in the best case scenario, the child would be very young, they would forget, and the family could sort of reform around the scar, if you like, and carry on as if that woman had never been there."

The author researched real cases using court transcripts and newspaper articles.

"The stuff in the court cases - I couldn't make it worse, to be honest, so I brought things from real court cases and put them together."

A Family Matter is the first debut novel to win the overall prize at the Nero Book Awards or their predecessors, the Costa Book Awards, since 2013.

Lynch will receive a £30,000 prize, while the other category winners will each receive £5,000.

Nero Book Awards winners:

• Gold prize and debut fiction – A Family Matter by Claire Lynch
• Fiction – Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
• Non-fiction – Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
• Children's fiction – My Soul, A Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin

Lynch worked for Brunel University for 16 years until 2024, and is now honorary professor of English and creative writing at the institution.

Brunel University is described as a "partner" of the book awards, which includes providing "funding support", a Nero Book Awards spokesman said.

He said the administration and category judging process were administered entirely by the Booksellers Association.

"Brunel had no say or influence over the choice of winner, either at the category shortlists stage or the final judging for the Nero Gold Prize," he said.