Julia Gregson's East of the Sun, a story about love, friendship and adventure, has won the Romantic Novel of the Year 2009. Organised by the Romantic Novelists' Association, the award recognises the best of the year's novels exploring the deep mysteries of the human heart.
The prize was presented to Julia at the RNA's Awards Lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, on Tuesday 10th February. The judges, Alice O'Keeffe, Fanny Blake and Peter Crawshaw, said of the winning book: "The last days of the British Raj in India, at a pivotal moment of its history during the ascendancy of Gandhi, were brilliantly evoked in the author's skilled hands. With three remarkable women at its centre, each with different flaws, strengths and voices, the novel engages the reader from the first page and never lets go, following their various fortunes until it reaches its truly satisfying ending."
Peter Crawshaw said ‘Being the bloke on the judging panel of the Romantic Novel Award was a little daunting and I wondered whether being forced to read ‘romantic books’ would be like being forced to read and analyse the classics for O level English! It couldn’t have been further from the truth. I thoroughly enjoyed all the books. I learnt a lot about India, Japan, The Jacobites and even being blind. I got carried away with the characters and there stories. I even shed a few tears at the end of one of the books! Perhaps there be a few less problems in the world if more men read books like this.’
Lovereading also ran a poll among it's readers to see which book was there favourite. This turned out to be Star Gazing by Linda Gillard as you can see from the results below.
Before the Storm - Judith Lennox 6%
Sophia's Secret - Susanna Kearsley 7%
The Last Concubine - Lesley Downer 3%
Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern 23%
East of the Sun - Julia Gregson 7%
Star Gazing - Linda Gillard 54%
Comments (0)
Leave A Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.