Women's Prize for Fiction 2020: Read this year’s winning novel and the previous top titles

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Maggie O’Farrell has been crowned this year’s winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, taking the award for her eighth book Hamnet. Founded in 1996, the Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the UK’s most prestigious book awards and showcases the remarkable originality, accessibility and excellence within novels written by women around the world. The judges – chair and businesswoman Martha Lane Fox; co-founder of The Black British Business Awards Melanie Eusebe; writer and activist Scarlett Curtis; author and comedian Viv Groskop; and author Paula Hawkins – were tasked with the near-impossible job of awarding this year’s winner from a stellar line-up. The chair of the judges, Martha Lane Fox, said: “Hamnet, while set long ago, like all truly great novels expresses something profound about the human experience that seems both extraordinarily current and at the same time, enduring.” Maggie O’Farrell beat five other, similarly remarkable finalists – Angie Cruz, Bernardine Evaristo, Natalie Haynes, Hilary Mantel and Jenny Offill – whose stories all draw on a broad range of experiences and themes; touching on everything from identity, gender, and power to war, grief, and the climate crisis.