BRITAIN:Debut novelist Stef Penney, once an agoraphobic too terrified to travel, has landed one of Britain's top literary awards for a haunting novel about the Canadian wilderness she has never visited.
Penney (37), a screenwriter who now has her fear of open spaces under control, landed the Costa Award yesterday for The Tenderness of Wolves, which literary critics hailed as an astonishingly assured debut.
"Within 50 pages I was completely in love with it," said comedy writer and director Armando Iannucci, who chaired the panel of judges that gave the prize to Penney's journey of imagination.
The British writer took the coveted award after a closely fought tussle with novelist William Boyd for his spy drama Restless and Brian Thompson for his quirky wartime biography Keeping Mum, Iannucci said.
It was only the fourth time that a debut novelist had landed the book of the year award since 1985.
Agoraphobia often confines sufferers to their homes. Penney conquered hers after a 2½-year battle before going out to research the book in the British Library in London.
"I was fascinated about Canada because I couldn't go there. It made me want to armchair travel," Penney said. "Something did eventually cure me. Whether it was part of that, I don't know but perhaps it was.
"The more I researched the more fascinated I got and the bigger the canvas got."
She said she was prepared to put up with the harsh media spotlight that accompanies winning the prize. "It gives books a bit more attention and it means they are in the papers."
The Costa, formerly known as the Whitbread, is split into five categories - for best novel, first novel, poetry, children's book and biography - with £5,000 (€7,600) going to each winner and £25,000 (€38,000) to the overall winner. - ( Reuters)