Madeline Miller should be feeling pretty good right about now. Not only does she have the distinction of beating out serious competition from more established writers like Ann Patchett and Cynthia Ozick to win this year’s Orange Prize for Fiction with her literary debut The Song of Achilles , she’s also the final author who will ever receive the annual award — at least, under its current name.
“This is a more than worthy winner — original, passionate, inventive and uplifting,” said Joanna Trollope, chair of judges, in a press release. “Homer would be proud of her.” If you haven’t already checked out Miller’s modern retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of Achilles’ highborn companion Patrocolus — a juicy love story that took the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based high school teacher a decade to complete — then you can read a short excerpt from the novel here. [via Jacket Copy]