Love conquers rivals of firse-time novelist

¡¡¡¡ANDREA LEVY the first author to have won the Whitbread and Orange prizes in the same year ¡ª as well as being shortlisted for next week¡¯s British Book Awards ¡ª became a surprise loser in another prominent literary competition last week.

¡¡¡¡One of Britain¡¯s most prolific female authors found herself overshadowed by a first-time novelist Katharine Davies a former teacher from Warwickshire¢Ÿ in the Romantic Novel of the Year Award worth ¡ê10¢Ÿ000.

¡¡¡¡Levy¡¯s Small Island a grim exploration of England¡¯s past as the first wave of immigrants from Jamaica encounter racism lost out to Davies¡¯s A Good Voyage a tragi-comedy of unrequited love and misunderstanding.

¡¡¡¡Davies 36 beat several acclaimed authors to win a prize whose previous winners have included Joanna Trollope and Rosamunde Pilcher. Her book¢Ÿ which is loosely based on Shakespeare¡¯s Twelfth Night was described by the judges as a ¡°magical story that brilliantly contrasts the timelessness of romance with the grittiness of reality¡±.

¡¡¡¡Danuta Keane the chairman of the judges and a book industry commentator¢Ÿ said that the competition between Levy and Davies was ¡°not that close¡±. She said that Small Island stood out in terms of literary merit£®