The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

« Headlines

Jewell takes comedy prize

19.06.08 Anna Richardson

Lisa Jewell picked up the top prize for her novel 31 Dream Street (Penguin) at the second annual Melissa Nathan Awards for Comedy Romance. Jewell, who recently moved from Penguin to Random House's Arrow imprint, won the best comedy romance category, beating fellow contenders Merde Happens by Stephen Clarke (Transworld), A Girls Guide To Kissing Frogs by Victoria Clayton
(HarperCollins), Heaven Sent by Christina Jones (Little Brown), Mrs Zhivago Of Queen's Park by Olivia Lichtenstein (Orion) and The Secret Life Of A Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill (Arrow).

Other awards announced included the Best Bastard category, which went to Victoria CLayton for her character Sebastian in A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs; Best Bitch for Christina Jones's Helen in Heaven Sent; Most Loveable Heroine to Fiona Neill's Lucy in The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy; Best First Kiss for Louise Harwood's Hippy Chick; and Best Happy Ever After for Carole Matthews' The Chocolate Lover's Diet.

The Melissa Nathan awards are dedicated to the genre of comedy romance, and were created by Andrew Saffron in memory of his late wife, novelist Melissa Nathan. The awards celebrate the funniest comedy romance writing from the previous year.

Anna Richardson Prize Home Lisa Jewell Melissa Nathan Awards