American author Marilynne Robinson Wednesday won this year's Orange Prize for Fiction for her novel Home, which tells the story of a prodigal son as he returns home to make peace with his past. The prize, worth 30,000 pounds (49,000 dollars), recognizes a work of fiction written by women around the world. Home is Robinson's third novel in nearly 30 years, and follows Housekeeping (1981) and Gilead (2004), which won the Pulitzer Prize. The 62-year-old author beat British first-time novelist Samantha Harvey, who was in the running for The Wilderness, a story about a man with Alzheimer's disease. The shortlist also included US authors Ellen Feldman and Samantha Hunt, Irish writer Deirdre Madden and Pakistani-born British author Kamila Shamsie. Fi Glover, chair of the judges, described the winning book as "a kind, wise, enriching novel, exquisitely crafted."
