Jamila Gavin is the winner of the 2025 Nero Book Awards, children’s fiction category, with her novel My Soul, A Shining Tree (Farshore).

She receives £5,000 and is now in the running for the Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year 2025 alongside the other category winners Benjamin Wood (Adult Fiction), Claire Lynch (Debut Fiction) and Sarah Perry (Non-Fiction).

Based on the true story of an Indian World War One gunner, Khudadad Khan, My Soul, A Shining Tree is told from four perspectives: Lotte, a Belgian farmgirl whose village is the flashpoint for a battle; Ernst, a German teenage cavalry soldier whose grandiose dreams of war lie in tatters; Khudadad Khan, the gunner fighting with the British Army; and a wild walnut tree.

The judges described the book as an ‘exceptionally powerful story…Only a writer of genius could tell a story on this scale in fewer than 200 pages, with such vivid prose it has the quality of poetry.’ Read the Books for Keeps interview with Jamila Gavin in which she discusses her book and its background.

The Nero Book Awards are run as not for profit by independent, family-owned coffee house group Caffè Nero, in partnership with The Booksellers Association and Brunel University of London. Now in their third year, the Awards form part of the premium coffee house’s long-standing commitment to supporting the arts, recognising notable talent in a particular craft and fostering a love of reading in communities across the UK and Ireland.

Gerry Ford, Founder and Group CEO of Caffè Nero said, ‘The Nero Book Awards have gone from strength to strength in the past two years and our winners for 2025 are of incredible quality. The judges had a difficult job deciding on the best in each category, with so many fantastic books published this year. Their selection epitomises what we look for with the Nero Book Awards – outstanding writing, incredible storytelling, and the books you most want to press into the hands of others. Caffè Nero has been a proud supporter of the arts for many years and I look forward to celebrating all four writers and announcing our Nero Gold Prize winner in March.’

The shortlist for the Children’s Fiction category also included People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence, Dragonborn by Struan Murray, and Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson.

The judges were author Sharna Jackson, The Telegraph children’s literary critic and author Emily Bearn and Waterstones Children’s Campaign Manager Nick Campbell.