The Artist by Lucy Steeds has been named this year’s Waterstones book of the year.

The novel, which is set in 1920s Provence and blends mystery with a love story, also took home the Waterstones debut fiction prize earlier this year, and was longlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction.

At the beginning of the novel we meet English journalist Joseph, who is visiting the home of a talented but cantankerous painter living with his subdued niece, Ettie. Joseph hopes to write a profile of the reclusive artist, but soon, to his surprise, becomes his model. “A seductive combination of romance, puzzle and poetry, The Artist also offers a considered interrogation of the value of art,” wrote Christobel Kent in a Guardian review of the novel.

Waterstones’ head of books, Bea Carvalho, described it as a “gorgeously escapist novel which seamlessly transports the reader to the sticky heat of sun-soaked 1920s southern France.” Steeds “is a writer of staggering, rare talent and it has been a joy to see this bookseller favourite become a word-of-mouth sensation,” she added.

Meanwhile, The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please was named children’s book of the year, having won the children’s prize in March. Padella, a pasta cookbook, was chosen as gift of the year.

The winners will receive the “full and committed backing of Waterstones shops and booksellers across the UK”.

Along with the three winning titles, the book of the year shortlist – made up of fiction, nonfiction and children’s contenders – featured Ocean by David Attenborough and Colin Butfield, Universality by Natasha Brown, Donut Squad: Take Over the World! by Neill Cameron, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, Craftland by James Fox, The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, Alice With a Why by Anna James, Katabasis by RF Kuang, So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell, The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy and Strange Pictures by Uketsu.

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The book of the year is chosen by a panel of Waterstones staff, who select from a shortlist comprised of titles nominated by booksellers. Last year’s winner was Butter by Asako Yuzuki, while I Am Rebel by Ross Montgomery was named children’s book of the year.

Lucy Steeds has won the 2025 Waterstones debut fiction prize for her novel The Artist, which has been praised for its “atmospheric, sensory prose.”

Set in an artist’s household in 1920s Provence, the novel follows aspiring English journalist Joseph Adelaide, reclusive painter Edouard Tartuffe and his niece Ettie, who has her own hidden artistic ambitions.

“With lavish, luxurious description, Steeds evokes the sensory environment: the smell of hot earth, the sound of crickets, sunlight on soft yellow stones, ‘a constellation of fireflies … spreading and regrouping like a net of stars,’” wrote Christobel Kent in a Guardian review of the novel.

“Her characterisation too is vivid and sure-footed: the anguished Joseph, the fiercely determined Ettie, and at the centre of his shadowy lair, the great tortured brute Tata – half Cyclops, half Minotaur – each of them groping towards artistic expression.”

Steeds will receive £5,000 and a “promise of ongoing commitment” to her writing career. The Artist was selected from a shortlist of six books which also featured Confessions by Catherine Airey, Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal, Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter, and When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén.

The winner was chosen by a panel of booksellers informed by votes and feedback from more than 650 booksellers from Waterstones shops.

Bea Carvalho, head of books at Waterstones, said Steeds’ novel “stood out for its atmospheric, sensory prose, and its headily evocative sense of time and place.

“This is a gorgeously claustrophobic novel to be fully swept away by: The Artist has something for readers of all tastes and heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice. We can’t wait to see what Lucy Steeds does next.”

Steeds, who is originally from north London, began writing the novel while living in France. Commenting on the inspiration behind the novel, she said she was “fascinated by the concept of art monsters. These tyrannical figures who act abominably to the people around them in order to create great art.

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“I was less interested in the art we’ve gained from these monsters, and more interested in the art we’ve lost. What could have been created if these tyrants weren’t crushing everyone around them?”

Waterstones launched the prize in 2022, celebrating the best work of debut fiction written in any form. Previous winners of the prize include Alice Winn and Ferdia Lennon, who won last year for his novel Glorious Exploits, which went on to win the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize and The Authors’ Club 2025 best first novel award.