Fiction prize won by 9/11 novel

Beigbeder detailed a family's final moments in the US terror attacks

A novel detailing a family's last moments on 11 September has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

French author Frederic Beigbeder's Windows on the World was chosen from 80 entries for the award for foreign novels translated into English.

Russian best-seller Give Me (Songs For Lovers) by Irina Denezhkina was awarded a runners-up commendation.

The £10,000 first prize will be split equally between author Beigbeder and his book's translator, Frank Wynne.

'Daring and moving'

Windows on the World was described as "a daring and moving evocation" of the last moments of a father and his children on top of the World Trade Center during the US terror attacks.

Judges included Independent newspaper literary editor Boyd Tonkin and writers Julian Evans and Michele Roberts.

"Frederic Beigbeder's winning novel pulls off the impossible - it creates fiction about the tragedy of 11 September and our responses to it," said Mr Tonkin.

"Our runner-up, the startling collection of stories by Irina Denezhkina, shows with unforgettable urgency a generation of young Russians fighting through loss, confusion and despair towards a renewal of hope."

Chico Buarque's third novel Budapest, Xiaolu Guo's Village of Stone, Orhan Pumak's Snow and Elif Shafak's The Flea Palace were also shortlisted.

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is held in collaboration with Arts Council England.