Author Gilles Leroy has won France's most prestigious literary honour for his fictional autobiography of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Alabama Song, the 12th novel by former journalist Leroy, on Monday won the 2007 Prix Goncourt, the venerable French award for the best novel of the year.
Though the award's cash prize is nominal — Leroy wins a cheque for 10 euros (about $13.50 Cdn) — the annual honour carries cachet and typically translates into a significant boost in sales for the winning title.
In an interview in Paris shortly after the announcement, Leroy said he was happy for Zelda "because it is time that she's recognized in her own right."
Alabama Song, a reference to Fitzgerald's birthplace, presents the famed couple's jet-set life from Zelda's point of view, with Leroy combining real biographical details with elements of his own imagination to depict the troubled woman's life.
The book retraces Fitzgerald's tumultuous relationship with her famed husband, the wild parties they attended during the roaring '20s and her decades-long battle with mental illness.
Fitzgerald died in 1948, when a fire spread through the North Carolina mental hospital where she lived.
Established through a bequest by author, critic and publisher Edmond de Goncourt, the first Goncourt Prize was awarded in 1903.
Past winners have included Marcel Proust, Simone de Beauvoir and Antonine Maillet.
This year's Prix Renaudot, considered a complement to the Prix Goncourt because it is announced at the same time, has been awarded to author Daniel Pennac for Chagrin d'Ecole, a tale about the author's experiences growing up as the class dunce in France.
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