From a sexy fairy story to a gourmet memoir, these are the books chosen by the British Book Awards judges as the best of the best

The British Book Awards – aka The Nibbies – are the UK publishing industry’s leading awards, and this year’s ceremony was on 12 May. The 12 Book of the Year winners were decided by a panel of judges including BBC News Chief Presenter Reeta Chakrabarti, author Bonnie Garmus, Businesswoman, broadcaster, author & activist Mary Portas and author Katherine Rundell.

Alice O’Keeffe, books editor of The Bookseller and overall chair of the Books of the Year, says: "This year’s judges brought all their expertise and enthusiasm to the table when meeting to decide The 2025 British Book Awards winners. And what winners they are, from a bestselling Japanese novel in translation to genre-defining British fantasy, from historical fiction acclaimed as a modern classic to the bravest political memoir, all published with ambition and flair. We believe many of our chosen books will be read long into the future."

Good Housekeeping is delighted to be sponsoring the Fiction Book Of the Year Award. Without further ado, here are the winners...

British Book Of The Year Awards winners

Overall Book of the Year

Patriot by Alexei Navalny, translated by Arch Tait and Stephen Dalziel - the posthumous memoir of the Russian opposition leader (also winner Non-Fiction: Narrative Book of the Year) (The Bodley Head, Vintage)