She also got a job in the welfare department in Louisiana. Shortly after leaving university, she published some short stories and, married and pregnant, began working on a novel. The daughter of a sea captain, Martin was raised in New Orleans. It also means that her earlier books will now be published here, including Italian Fever. The cash has since allowed Martin to write full time. With Property, her gripping novel about slavery, she pipped the favourite, Donna Tartt, to the £30,000 award. But it took the Orange Prize to make us notice this quiet American. The author of several short story collections and the novel Mary Reilly (which became a film with Julia Roberts), Martin wasn't a novice. Few people had heard of Valerie Martin until last year.
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