For book lovers, the British Book Awards are the perfect reading list inspiration.
Whatever you like - from crime to memoir - these are the books voted the best of the year by a panel of industry experts.
The 2026 book of the year was awarded to Nobody’s Girl, the posthumous memoir by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, co-written by Amy Wallace, which details her abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and her escape and advocacy for institutional change. Nobody’s Girl also won non-fiction: narrative book of the year and Giuffre was jointly awarded the British Book Award for Freedom to Publish, along with Sarah Wynn-Williams, author of Careless People.
Philippa Gregory was the winner in the fiction book of the year category with Boleyn Traitor, a thrilling historical novel that tells the story of Jane Boleyn.
Roisín O’Donnell was the first winner of the BBC Radio 2 book club award for Nesting, a heart-wrenching novel about a woman leaving an abusive marriage with her two daughters.
The debut fiction category was won by Florence Knapp for The Names, a heartfelt and moving meditation on identity, fate and family.
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Elsewhere, Emily Henry was announced as the first winner of romantic fiction for her novel Great Big Beautiful Life, while romance authors Jilly Cooper, Joanna Trollope and Sophie Kinsella, who all passed away in 2025, were commemorated with a special award, The British Book Award for excellence in romantic fiction.
Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chair of the judges at The British Book Awards, said: "Our winners represent the very best of the book trade, standing up for the books and the authors when others would try to stand them down. The British Book Awards affirms our creatives, our entertainers and our truth-tellers, and we applaud those who did so much to bring their work to the public. In 2025, the importance of the book was manifest; it was a beacon to many and a heartbeat for all."
