Best among the best

Tayari Jones has won this year's Women's Prize for Fiction for her outstanding novel An American Marriage. The book is the story of newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South.

He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined.

Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.

As Roy's time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her centre. After five years, Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control.

Tayari Jones is the author of four novels, including Silver Sparrow, The Untelling, and Leaving Atlanta. She won American author Tayari Jones beats two Booker prize winners to bag the Women's Prize for fiction and the prize money of £30,000