Jun 4, 2008, 23:26 GMT
London - A British author who charted the journey of an east European migrant worker to a new life in Britain Wednesday won this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction for her 'powerful novel' - The Road Home.
Rose Tremain, 65, was awarded the prize, worth 30,000 pounds (60,000 dollars) for her 'powerfully imagined story' told with 'great warmth and humour.'
She had succeeded in 'putting herself in the head' of an east European migrant worker in contemporary Britain, the panel of judges said.
'The judges felt that this was a fantastic exercise in empathy.' said chair of the panel, BBC presenter Kirsty Lang. Tremain had put herself 'in the head' of an east European migrant in contemporary Britain.
Tremain, who has written 10 novels, and who was shortlisted for the prize in 2004, said she was 'delighted' with the honour.
The Orange Prize was set up in 1996 to celebrate novels in English by women throughout the world.
Her winning novel tells the story of Lev, an Eastern European migrant worker who arrives at London's Victoria station with no job, little money and a few words of English.
Behind Lev loom the figures of his dead wife, his beloved daughter and his friend Rudi, who dreams of life in wealthy West.
The book tells how Lev deals with the peculiarities of British society, its 'obsession with celebrity, hostile streets, lonely flats and clannish pubs.'
But it also shows that friendships can be struck and, apart from sex, money and a new career, a 'sense of belonging' can be found.
'She managed to tell the story in a very powerful way. It's a male character, it's a man in his 40s. She absolutely gets inside his head,' said Lang.
'Certainly the themes in fiction at the moment are very much about identity, immigration and loss.'
'Lev is recently bereaved ... and he is also bereaved of his homeland. That makes it incredibly moving,' Lang said.
In a recent interview, Tremain said: 'I believe that when we think about people in a collective way ... we tend to lack empathy with them and, almost invariably, to see their contribution to our society in a negative light.'
'But the moment we become engaged with an individual story, empathy arrives and our attitudes alter.' It was her intention to make Lev 'fully human and knowable to us,' said Tremain.
Previous Orange Prize winners include Britain's Zadie Smith for On Beauty in 2006 and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Half of a Yellow Sun last year.
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