Catherine Hall's The Proof of Love has been announced as the winner of the Green Carnation Prize.
The Green Carnation Prize was at first only open to male writers, however this year the award sought submissions from all LGBT community writers this year.
Hall was chosen above other shortlisted authors including Jackie Kay to win the award for her second novel.
The Proof of Love tells of a mathematician from Cambridge who works on a farm doing hard labour in the summer of 1976, experiencing a tragedy that changes his life in his new rural community.
Chair of the Green Carnation judges, Simon Savidge, said: 'This is one of those rare novels in which you get so lost you forget that it is fiction. The characters walk off the page and you can feel the atmosphere simmering and brooding in every sentence.
'It's a book that quietly takes you by the hand, leading you gently into a false sense of security before gripping you and it doesn't let go until the very last moment.
'It is the sort of novel that storytelling and reading are all about, wonderfully written and a book you want to pass on and recommend to everyone you know.'
I am thrilled, along with all the other judges, that Catherine Hall has won this year's Green Carnation prize with her extraordinary second novel The Proof of Love.' He added.
Hall said she was 'utterly delighted' to have won the Green Carnation Prize.
'It's a great way of raising the profile of LGBT writing, which I think can only be a good thing.' she said.
The prize committee were criticised earlier this year for not including Ali Smith, Alan Hollinghurst and Philip Hensher's recent books on the award's shortlist.
Photo by Beth Crosland Photography
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