Catherine Hall has won the 2011 Green Carnation Prize with her second novel, “The Proof of Love”:. Set during the long hot summer of 1976, it is a deeply evocative and moving tale of a young Cambridge mathematician who arrives in a remote village in the Lake District and takes on a job as a farm labourer. Just as he is slowly winning the trust of the suspicious local community, tragedy strikes. The Prize celebrates LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) writing.
Chair of the judges Simon Savidge said “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. 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.”
The Proof of Love is published by Portobello Books.
More informaiton for reading groups and book clubs:
The Proof of Love has also been nominated for the London Book Award 2012 and reading groups and book clubs can read an interview with Catherine Hall where she discusses her inspirations for the novel.
The Proof of Love was one of the feature titles in Fiction Uncovered 2011 which uncovers the best fiction writers and finds wider audiences for their writing. Sarah Crown, judge for Fiction Uncovered 2011, explains why the book was chosen for the promotion:
