Debut novelist, Madeline Miller, received this year’s Orange prize for The Song of Achilles. The novel depicts the classic Greek myth of Achilles focusing on the Trojan War and his romance with Patroclus. Novelist Joanna Trollope, Chair of the judging committee, said Miller handles the story of Achilles “with extraordinary lightness.” Her citation went on to say that, despite the tragic outcome, the work is “in a curious way, uplifting.” For the £30,000 prize, Miller beat out a strong shortlist that included State of Wonder by Anne Patchett, Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick, The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, and Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding.

Miller, seen by many as a dark horse finalist, is the fourth consecutive American novelist to win the award, following last year’s win by Tea Obreht, for The Tiger’s Wife, also a debut novel. According to The Guardian, Miller worked on the novel for ten years while also teaching Latin in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she currently resides.

This year’s Orange prize will be the last to carry the name, as Orange, a mobile services company, announced it will withdraw its funding of the prize after this year. Of the change, Trollope said it would make for a good opportunity for the prize, adding, “Orange have been absolutely amazing… It is very much ‘the king is dead, long live the king.’”

Source: The Guardian.

Read reviews of The Song of Achilles at The Wall Street Journal , USA Today , and The New York Times.