Established by The Bookseller in 2014, the YA Book Prize rewards the finest writing in the UK and Ireland for teens and young adults.
Take a look at these books shortlisted for the 2025 award, now available to borrow with your library card!
Dainų šviesa
Moira Buffini
Don’t be deceived by Northaven’s prettiness, by its white-wash houses and its sea views. In truth, many of its townsfolk are ruthless hunters. They revile those who have developed songlight, the ability to connect telepathically with others. Anyone found with this sixth sense is caught, persecuted and denounced. Welcome to the future.
Lark has lived in grave danger ever since her own songlight emerged. Then she encounters a young woman in peril, from a city far away. An extraordinary bond is forged.
But who can they trust? The world is at war. Those with songlight are pawns in a dangerous game of politics. Friends, neighbours, family are quick to turn on each other. When power is everything, how will they survive?
Kur turėtų būti širdis
Sara Krosan
Ireland, 1846. Nell is working as a scullery maid in the kitchen of the Big House. Once she loved school and books and dreaming. But there’s not much choice of work when the land grows food that rots in the earth.
Now she is scrubbing, peeling, washing, sweeping for Sir Philip Wicken, the man who owns her home, her family’s land, their crops, everything. His dogs are always well fed, even as famine sets in. Upstairs in the Big House, where Nell is forbidden to enter, is Johnny Browning, newly arrived from England: the young nephew who will one day inherit it all.
And as hunger and disease run rampant all around them, a spark of life and hope catches light when Nell and Johnny find each other. This is a love story, and the story of a people being torn apart.
Durklas ir liepsna
Catherine Doyle
In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love.
In Fantome, a city of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy guilds: the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins. On the night of her mother’s murder, 18-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge.
But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city? Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before.
Meilužių paukščiai
Leonas Eganas
When Isabel Williams moves to Liverpool, she criticises seemingly everything in Eloise Byrne’s life – her city, her accent, her trademark boldness – so if, when she catches Isabel staring, Eloise feels her pulse race, it must be because they hate each other. It surely couldn’t be for any other reason, could it?
Eloise needs to get her ADHD under control in time for A-Levels, but when she meets Isabel, school becomes the least of her concerns. What begins as outright contempt turns into an oddly satisfactory rivalry, but for their rivalry to shift further into romance, their relationship must withstand Isabel’s classism, Eloise’s distrust, and whatever secrets their friends are hiding from them.
Pabaiga vainikuoja viską
Bea Fitzgerald
When Cassandra’s patron god, Apollo, offers her the gift of prophecy – and all the power that comes with it – she seizes the opportunity. But when she fails to uphold her end of the agreement, she discovers just how very far she has to fall.
No one believes her visions. Which all seem to be of one girl – and she’s going to start a war. Helen fled Sparta in pursuit of love – though that’s proving more elusive than she’d hoped. Far from home, Helen’s navigating all the politics and backstabbing of the Trojan court. And one princess seems particularly intent on driving her from the city.
But when war finally strikes, it’s more than the army at their walls they must contend with. Cassandra and Helen might hold the key to reweaving fate itself – especially with the prophetic strands drawing them ever closer together.
Reičel Prais sugrįžimas
Holly Jackson
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance.
Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness. Rachel is gone, presumed dead. The case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. But then Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.
Iš bestselerių autoriaus, parašiusio knygą Geros mergaitės vadovas apie žmogžudystę.
Jei mano žodžiai turėtų sparnus
Danielle Jawando
When Tyrell Forrester gets caught up in a high-profile armed robbery, he’s sentenced to two years in a young offenders’ prison. Now he’s getting out, and he’s determined to turn his life around.
But despite his release, systemic discrimination makes it difficult for Ty to truly be free. Inspired by a visiting poet while inside, Ty discovers a whole new world through spoken word and is finally finding his voice.
But will society ever see him as anything other than a criminal?
Glazgo berniukai
Margaret McDonald
This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope. Neither Finlay or Banjo can remember the last time they had a hug. Against all odds, 18-year-old Finlay has begun his nursing degree at Glasgow University.
But coming straight from the care system means he has no support network. How can he write essays, focus on his nursing placement and stop himself from falling in love when he’s struggling to even feed himself? Meanwhile, 17-year-old Banjo is trying to settle into his new foster family and finish high school, desperate to hold down his job and the people it contains.
But his anger and fear keep boiling over, threatening his already uncertain future. Underpinning everything is what happened three years ago in their group care home, when Finlay and Banjo were as close as brothers until they stopped speaking.
Apokalipsės karvė
ARBA Rūgštynės
Mel myli Sašą ir svajoja apie dieną, kai Saša galėtų atkeršyti jos jausmais (nors ji ir heteroseksuali) – tad faktas, kad sausį lauke trisdešimt laipsnių šilumos ir metus nelijo, jai tiesiog praslysta pro akis.
Mel is just about coping with being the only ‘out’ lesbian in school and all the sniping that Janis and Ella aim her way, as well as her dreary Saturday job with the stupidly posh Dorian…
But when domestic animals suddenly lethally turn on the human race, and Mel finds herself stuck in a mansion with Dorian and Ella, her love-life suddenly turns on its head in the most extraordinary way.
Keturios Eid šventės ir laidotuvės
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé ir Adiba Jaigirdar
Said Hossain hates Tiwa Olatunji. And Tiwa would happily never see Said again in her life. Growing up, the two were inseparable, but they have barely spoken since the incident many Eids ago and both of them would like to keep it that way.
But when Said comes home for a funeral and the town’s Islamic Centre burns down on the same day, they have to face each other again – and sparks fly.
Dirbti su prisiekusiu priešu niekada nebūna lengva, ir tai gali būti sunkiausias dalykas, kurį Saidui ir Tiwai teko padaryti. Bet ar bandydami išgelbėti Islamo centrą ir Eidą, šie priešai galėtų tapti kažkuo kitu...?
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