We’re so proud to announce that Moederland: Nine Daughters of South Africa by Cato Pedder has won the HWA non-fiction Crown.

Published by John Murray in 2024, Moederland takes us on an eye-opening journey across four centuries, tracing the country’s turbulent past and the rise and fall of apartheid (and her family’s charged legacy) through the lives of nine very different women.

Annie Whitehead, who chairs the Non-fiction judging panel, said: “The judges felt that the innovative approach, focusing on nine related women who were in turn related to the author, gave depth and interest to what is also a comprehensive history of a nation. The connection enhanced the story, adding layers of personal history to the national story. With women’s history at its heart it also presents a well-researched and balanced picture of a troubled, and at times turbulent, country, and is an absorbing read.”