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

The book alternates between the story of Maggie, a daughter in present-day England, and events in 1982, revealing why her mother had disappeared from her life. Lynch said she was inspired after discovering a statistic stating that up to 90 percent of lesbian women married to men and with children 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 added: "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."

Lynch researched real cases using court transcripts and newspaper articles. She said: "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."

The judges praised Lynch’s novel for its "wry humour", "deft storytelling", and "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," said chair Nick Hornby. "It is both readable and intelligent, and it offers hope and consolation. We believe that this novel will be read and thought about for years to come."

Hornby was joined by BBC journalist Reeta Chakrabarti and novelist and TV drama Victoria creator Daisy Goodwin. 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 will receive a £30,000 prize, while the other category winners each received £5,000.

The other category winners were:

• 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. A spokesman for the awards emphasized that Brunel University "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".

A Family Matter explores the long-term effects of prejudice and secrecy on a lesbian couple in the 1980s, portraying a custody battle that reflected the era's homophobia. Lynch’s novel sheds light on the personal toll of legal discrimination, the societal pressures faced by lesbian mothers, and the emotional consequences for families.

Lynch is also the author of the nonfiction book Small: On Motherhoods, and lives in Windsor with her wife and three daughters. The Nero Book Awards, run by Caffè Nero, were launched in 2023 after Costa Coffee ended its book awards in 2022. The prizes aim to highlight the best books published in the UK and Ireland over the past year, guiding readers of all ages and interests.

The 2025 award underscores the ongoing importance of historical narratives in shaping contemporary understanding of LGBTQ+ rights and family dynamics, emphasizing the human cost of legal discrimination in the 1980s. A Family Matter is the first debut novel to win the overall prize at the Nero Book Awards or their predecessors since 2013.