Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir about her time being sex trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein won the top honour at the British Book Awards on Monday night.
Giuffre’s book, which also detailed allegations against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and other high-profile men, was named book of the year at a ceremony at Grosvenor House in London.
It also won the prize for non-fiction narrative book of the year, as well as being named the joint winner of the Freedom to Publish prize alongside Careless People, a book by Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams.
In a video played during the ceremony, Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, said his family was “truly honoured” to accept the awards on behalf of his late sister.
Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir Of Surviving Abuse And Fighting For Justice was co-written with Amy Wallace and released six months after Giuffre took her own life, aged 41, at her farm north of Perth, Western Australia.
In the memoir, Giuffre detailed how she was allegedly forced by Epstein, the paedophile financier, and his co-accused Ghislaine Maxwell, to have sex with some of the world’s most powerful men.
She claimed she was paid $15,000 (about £11,000) for “servicing the man the tabloids called ‘Randy Andy’” – a reference to Prince Andrew.
Giuffre wrote that the then Prince “was friendly enough but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright”.
She had accused him of raping and abusing her on three separate occasions when she was 17. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has denied the allegations and a civil claim brought in the US was settled out of court with no admission of guilt.
Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001 – AFP
The judges wrote that Giuffre’s memoir was a “testament to the importance of serious non-fiction”, with one noting: “I am a better person for having read this book”.
Nobody’s Girl “will stay in my bones”, one judge said. Another predicted that it would “change the world”.
They said Doubleday, the publisher, had “set the gold standard for how to publish bravely and with integrity”.
“The team did an incredible job at honouring Giuffre’s memory, her story and her words,” the judges said, adding that the memoir “stands as the most important book of 2025 for its bravery”.
The awards ceremony also commemorated Dame Jilly Cooper with a posthumous award.
Dame Jilly died unexpectedly in October 2025, aged 88. She was best known for her raunchy 1980s romance novel Rivals, which was adapted into an award-winning television series that is now in its second season.
Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller and chairman of the judges at the British Book Awards, said: “Our winners represent the very best of the book trade, standing up for the books and the authors when others would try to stand them down.
“The British Book Awards affirms our creatives, our entertainers and our truth-tellers, and we applaud those who did so much to bring their work to the public.
“In 2025 the importance of the book was manifest, it was a beacon to many and a heartbeat for all.”
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