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.
The novel is set in southern France during the 1920s and follows a British journalist, an enigmatic painter, and the artist’s niece over the course of a summer.
Bea Carvalho, head of books at Waterstones, said: “From a shortlist of six stunning books, The Artist stood out for its atmospheric, sensory prose, and its headily evocative sense of time and place.
“Lucy Steeds is a writer of staggering, rare talent. She is able to conjure vivid brushstrokes, sticky heat, and the smells and tastes of Provence through words on the page.”
Ms Steeds, who has a BA in English Literature and a Masters in World Literatures from Oxford, began writing the novel while living in France and currently divides her time between London and Amsterdam.
She said: “My inspirations were twofold: firstly, I 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.
“Secondly, how much colour, texture, smell, and taste was it possible to convey on a page?
“How intensely could I evoke heat? Was it possible to create a painting using words instead of a brush?
“I wanted to write a book that felt alive.”
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.