Claire Lynch Wins Nero Gold

The £30,000 Nero Gold Prize is one of the UK and Ireland's most prestigious literary awards, succeeding the Costa Book Awards. Lynch's win is a historic first for a debut novel, and marks the second consecutive win for her publisher, Chatto & Windus. The final judging panel was chaired by author Nick Hornby and included BBC correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin. *A Family Matter* first won the Debut Fiction category before being elevated to the overall Book of the Year. The other category winners in contention for the top prize were Benjamin Wood's *Seascraper* for Fiction, Sarah Perry's *Death of an Ordinary Man* for Non-Fiction, and Jamila Gavin's *My Soul, A Shining Tree* for Children's Fiction. Each category winner receives £5,000. The novel tells the story of a family grappling with long-held secrets, alternating between the 1980s and the present day. It explores the devastating impact of a mother's long-term absence on her daughter, which is eventually revealed to be the result of discriminatory legal practices. The narrative delves into the injustice faced by lesbian mothers in the 1980s, who often lost custody of their children during divorce proceedings. Claire Lynch, an Honorary Professor at Brunel University of London, drew from real-life court transcripts from the 1980s to inform the novel's depiction of legal bigotry. The book has been praised for its powerful and authentic portrayal of trauma, hope, and how society might heal from the wounds of the past. Lynch is also the author of a non-fiction book titled *Small: On Motherhoods* and lives in Windsor with her wife and three daughters.