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Bristol-based author Catherine Airey nominated for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025
Confessions by Bristol-based author Catherine Airey is among the six nominees for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025.
Airey, from a family of mixed English and Irish descent, grew up in Hertfordshire and has previously lived in County Cork in Ireland, with Confessions skipping across generations and decades from rural 1970s Ireland and New York in the shadow of 9/11, to both places today.
Airey’s novel, which is published by Penguin, is said to “create a truly 3D view of one family and the histories its members inhabit across three generations”.
Airey said she is “absolutely delighted” to be on the shortlist for the prestigious prize.
She said: “Confessions is a novel about not quite knowing how to be a person in the world, which I think is true for a lot of us.
“While I was writing, I was struck by the relative freedom I had to define my own life, compared to the generations of women who had come before me.
“Still, it seemed my choices were not really my own, but informed by so many sociological factors beyond my control.
“The book is an exploration of where we come from and where we end up going, through our choices and the choices that are made for us.”
The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize is a prize for debut fiction of all forms, voted for by Waterstones booksellers.
The 2025 winner will be announced on July 24 with Airy up against Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal, Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter, When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén, translated by Alice Menzies and The Artist by Lucy Steeds.
Main photo: Teri Pengilley
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