Finally, They're Talking About Lionel

by Amanda-Jane Doran, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/9/2005

Even by normal author-obscurity standards, Lionel Shriver's story was striking. She had written seven novels over twenty years and had her latest novel turned down by a reported 30 U.K. publishers

But Shriver's obscurity is finally no longer. As you may have heard, the author ofWe Need to Talk About Kevin just won the tenth Orange Prize for Fiction, £30,000 pounds and critical recognition.

The book plays out the complex emotions of a mother's love and the terrible consequences of its absence. Shriver received the award at a glittering garden party yesterday in London, where she admitted upon accepting the prize "it's a difficult book, it's a dark book, it's an uncomfortable book," and added, "there are a lot of people out there who hate this book."

The book was released by Serpent's Tail in the U.K. and was pubbed by Counterpoint in the U.S. in 2003 as a hardcover and HarperPerennial last year in paper.