Arts Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Lionel Shriver’s controversial novel “We Need To Talk About Kevin” (Counterpoint Press), about a career woman who becomes a mother only to discover that she lacks all maternal instinct, has won this year’s prestigious L30,000 ($55,000) Orange Prize for Fiction.
It beat five others: “Old Filth” by Jane Gardam, “Billie Morgan” by Joolz Denby, “The Mammoth Cheese” by Sheri Holman, “Liars and Saints” by Maile Meloy, and “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian” by Marina Lewycka.
Ms. Shriver, 47, is childless herself and has said she knew from the age of 8 that she did not want to become a mother. “We Need To Talk About Kevin” is Ms. Shriver’s seventh novel.
