Elizabeth Strout, Miranda July and four debut writers make the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

To be listed for the is one of those 'life-changing' moments for a writer, so to see the shortlist dominated with new debut talent is a joy to behold. Of the six shortlisted, four are debut novelists at the beginning their writing careers.

This year, the prize panel selected an astounding range of books, which span decades and continents, taking on stories of queer love in post-WW2 Amsterdam to a comedy about an aid-worker travelling to to return brides to their home countries.

In my capacity as book critic and all-round contemporary fiction fanatic, I was delighted with the shortlist. However, as often is the case with critic's personal preferences, I felt there were some surprising omissions from the shortlist, not least the hugely hyped and critically acclaimed Nesting by Irish author Roisin O'Donnell.

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The Women's Prize is awarded annually for the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. The winner, which will be announced at a prize ceremony on June 12, will receive £30,000 and the iconic ‘Bessie’, a bronze statuette created by the artist Grizel Niven.

The for the 2025 Prize is chaired by author Kit de Waal, who is joined by: novelist and journalist, Diana Evans; author, journalist and mental-health campaigner, Bryony Gordon; magazine editor, most recently Editor-in-Chief of Glamour UK, Deborah Joseph; and musician and composer, Amelia Warner.

Good Girl by Aria Aber

Listed as best new book by Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Glamour, is already being hailed as a cult classic. Bookstagrammers and critics alike have been celebrating this stunning debut. Vogue lauded Good Girl for being 'delicious, propulsive reading,' while writer Raven Leilani called it 'kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul.'

Good Girl is a portrait of the artist as a young woman in a Berlin that can't escape its history. It's an electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery.

All Fours by Miranda July

, is the road trip American novel reimagined with an insatiable sex drive. Gillian Anderson described it as 'stunning,' while Dolly Alderton said All Fours was 'a life-changer' for her, as it explored monogamy, marriage, motherhood, and death.

Equal parts funny and horny, All Fours follows a semi-famous artist as she announces her plan to drive cross-country from LA to New York. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji

A riotously funny and deeply moving debut novel following five women from three generations of a once illustrious Iranian family as their lives are turned upside down. Meet the women of the Valiat family. In Iran, they were somebodies. In America, they're nobodies.

Spanning from 1940s Iran into a splintered 2000s, five women are pulled apart and brought together by revolutions personal and political. is a darkly funny, deeply moving and profoundly searching portrait of a unique family in crisis. Here is their past, their present and a possible new future for them all.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Elizabeth Strout's works span a universe of interconnected tales of hopeful and healing, from Olive Kitteridge to My Name is Lucy Barton. Her latest novel is about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the . Oprah Winfrey this new book as 'welcom[ing] us home again... It's a beautiful read reminding us that there is extraordinary love in ordinary actions."

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer, Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

There were two novels, in my opinion, that took the literary scene by storm in 2024. The first was Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits, and the second was . Like Lennon, van der Wouden has appeared on feeds and shortlists for their originality, craft, and above all else, ability to tell a page-turning story. The Safekeep has been, so far, shortlisted for the , the , and the 2025.

It's an exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge. Set in 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is well and truly over. Living alone in her late mother's country home, Isabel's life is as it should be: led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel's doorstep-as a guest.

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis

Selected as one of The Observer's Best Debut Novelists for 2025, Younis has rose to quick literary fame this year. Irish author Michelle Gallen described as a "Muslim Fleabag," which captures what Younis has created with her debut novel: an original, comedic and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion, radicalism, and the decisions we make in pursuit of connection and belonging,

When academic Nadia is disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, she decides to make a getaway - accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues.

But then Nadia meets Sara, a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen, and she is struck by how similar their stories are. Both from a Muslim background, both feisty and opinionated, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines, Sara and Nadia immediately connect and a powerful friendship forms. When Sara confesses a secret, Nadia is forced to make a difficult choice.