Emory’s Tayari Jones Wins Women’s Prize For Fiction With ‘An American Marriage’

Tayari Jones won the Women’s Prize for fiction on Wednesday with “An American Marriage,” her story of a family torn apart by the U.S. judicial system.

The American writer’s best-selling novel — selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club and praised by former President Barack Obama — centers on a successful African American couple in Atlanta whose marriage is tested when the husband is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Historian Kate Williams, who chaired the judging panel, called the novel “a story of love, loss and intimacy that shines a light on today’s America.”