Canadian-born Eleanor Catton wins Man Booker fiction prize

The Luminaries has won New Zealander Eleanor Catton the 2013 Man Booker Prize for fiction.

At 28, Catton was the youngest of the finalists to win the award, The Washington Post reports.

Catton's book is set during the gold rush of 1865 in Hokitika, New Zealand and is known to be quite long and complex. Catton commented that "'The Luminaries' was, from the start, a publisher's nightmare."

While accepting the award she made sure to thank her editors for "striking a balance between making art and making money."

According to CBC, The Luminaries is also involves a council of men who come together to unravel several mysteries surrounding the disappearance of a man who struck it rich.

The Man Booker Prize was founded in 1969 and is considered one of the top literary honors for those in Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth countries. With the prize comes a nearly $80,000 monetary prize.

Others nominated were Ruth Ozeki (A Tale for the Time Being), Colm Toibin (The Testament of Mary), Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland) and NoViolet Bulawayo (We Need New Names).

image: Amazon