LONDON (AFP) - Irish writer Lisa McInerney was awarded the prestigious Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction in London on Wednesday for her debut novel “The Glorious Heresies.”
Margaret Mountford, the chair of the judges, said it was a “superbly original, compassionate novel that delivers insights into the very darkest of lives through humor and skillful storytelling.”
The 30,000 pound ($43,500) award, previously known as the Orange prize, is presented each year to the best novel written by a woman from anywhere in the world.
Novelist Lisa McInerney poses for photographers after receiving the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Award for her book “The Glorious Heresies” at the award ceremony in London on Wednesday. (AP-Yonhap)
McInerney’s book details the lives of five misfits living on the edge of society in Cork, after the financial crisis.
They are all affected by the same messy murder, in what the Irish Times described as a “seriously enjoyable and high-octane morality tale.”
Previous winners of the prize, which was launched in 1996, include Barbara Kingsolver, Lionel Shriver and Ali Smith.
This year’s nominees included best-selling U.S. author Cynthia Bond (“Ruby”), Irish writer Anne Enright (“The Green Road”), U.S. writer Elizabeth McKenzie (“The Portable Veblen”), Britain’s Hannah Rothschild (“The Improbability of Love”) and U.S. writer Hanya Yanagihara (“A Little Life”).