The 20 best Women's Prize for Fiction winners
The 20 highest-ranked Women's Prize for Fiction winners in our ranking of 3,056, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 20 Women's Prize for Fiction winners in all. How we rank
- 1
Demon Copperhead96.3Must-Read ScoreDemon Copperhead
Dickens's David Copperfield, moved to the mountains of Lee County, Virginia, in the 1990s and 2000s.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2023)Women's Prize for Fiction winner (2023)81 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2022) - 2
The Correspondent94.9Must-Read ScoreThe Correspondent
Sybil Van Antwerp is a sharp, private woman in her seventies who has written letters nearly every day of her life: to her brother, to old friends, to her children, to authors she admires and to people who have annoyed her.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2026)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)50 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2025) - 3
The Song of Achilles88.1Must-Read ScoreThe Song of Achilles
Greece in the age of heroes.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2012)104 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2012 - 4
Hamnet87.2Must-Read ScoreHamnet
In Stratford in 1596, Agnes, an unusual woman who keeps bees and understands herbs, has three children with her husband, a Latin tutor who now works in London.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2020)NBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2020) - 5
Half of a Yellow Sun86.6Must-Read ScoreHalf of a Yellow Sun
In 1960s Nigeria, Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old village boy, goes to work as a houseboy for Odenigbo, a radical university professor.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2007)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 6
Piranesi85.3Must-Read ScorePiranesi
Piranesi lives in the House, an endless series of halls filled with thousands of marble statues, where tides surge through the lower floors and clouds drift through the upper ones.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2021)Hugo Award finalist (2021)Nebula Award finalist (2020) - 7
The Safekeep83.3Must-Read ScoreThe Safekeep
It's 1961 in the rural Dutch province of Overijssel, and the war is long over.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2025)Booker Prize finalist (2024) - 8
We Need to Talk About Kevin81.7Must-Read ScoreWe Need to Talk About Kevin
Eva Khatchadourian never really wanted to be a mother, and certainly not the mother of Kevin, who two days before his sixteenth birthday murdered seven students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher at his high school.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2005)Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read - 978.2Must-Read Score
Brotherless Night - 10
Home76.5Must-Read ScoreHome
Glory Boughton, thirty-eight and disappointed in life, comes home to Gilead, Iowa, to look after her dying father, an old minister.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2009)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2008)NBCC Award (Fiction) finalist (2008) - 11
The Lacuna75.2Must-Read ScoreThe Lacuna
Harrison William Shepherd is a man caught between two worlds, Mexico and the United States, in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2010)43 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2009 - 12
An American Marriage75.0Must-Read ScoreAn American Marriage
Celestial and Roy are newlyweds in Atlanta, she an artist and he a young executive, when Roy is arrested on a trip to Louisiana and convicted of a rape he didn't commit.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2019)26 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2018NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 13
Small Island73.7Must-Read ScoreSmall Island
In 1948 Hortense, a proper, ambitious young woman from Jamaica, arrives in London to join her husband, Gilbert, who served in the British air force in the war.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2004)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 14
The Book of Form and Emptiness73.4Must-Read ScoreThe Book of Form and Emptiness
A year after his beloved musician father dies, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices: the things in his house, a sneaker, a broken ornament, a wilted piece of lettuce, are speaking to him.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2022) - 15
Bel Canto72.1Must-Read ScoreBel Canto
In an unnamed South American country, guests gather at the vice president's mansion for a birthday party honoring a Japanese businessman, where Roxane Coss, the world's most famous soprano, is singing.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2002)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 16
Home Fire72.0Must-Read ScoreHome Fire
Kamila Shamsie's novel follows a British Muslim family torn between love and loyalty: three siblings whose father was a jihadist, and the son of a powerful politician who becomes entangled in their lives, with devastating consequences.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2018)Booker Prize longlist (2017) - 17
On Beauty67.6Must-Read ScoreOn Beauty
The Belseys are a mixed-race family in a New England college town: Howard, a white English art historian; his African-American wife, Kiki; and their three children.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2006)Booker Prize finalist (2005)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st CenturyGuardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read - 18
The Power67.2Must-Read ScoreThe Power
In a recognizable world, teenage girls suddenly develop the power to release electrical jolts from their hands, and the balance of power between men and women shifts overnight.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2017) - 19
How to Be Both64.0Must-Read ScoreHow to Be Both
Ali Smith's genre-bending novel is a fast-moving conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions, borrowing from the fresco technique of painting: a Renaissance artist and a modern teenage girl whose stories mirror each other.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2015)Booker Prize finalist (2014)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 20
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing58.5Must-Read ScoreA Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
A young woman's relationship with her brother, who lives with the after-effects of a brain tumor, told from deep inside her head.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2014)
