American author Lionel Shriver won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by women on Tuesday for her book about the aftermath of a fictional school shooting.
We Need to Talk About Kevin, a dark novel that explores the relationship between a mother and her son whom she does not love, won Shriver the £30,000 ($68,600) prize.
Praised by judges as a "courageous work," the novel is a series of letters written by the main character Eva to her estranged husband. Eva explores how she came to despise her son, whom she blames for the souring of her perfect marriage.
Shriver, 33, dedicated her win to other struggling writers. AP