Author Claire Tomalin has won the Whitbread Book of the Year award for her biography 'Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self'.
Tomalin's husband, Michael Frayn, was also one of the writers to make the five-author shortlist.
Each of the finalists – Tomalin, Frayn, Norman Lebrecht, Paul Farley and Hilary McKay – had already won a Whitbread prize in the categories of biography, novel, first novel, poetry and children's book.
Former Sunday Times Literary Editor Tomalin is only the third woman to win the Whitbread Book of the Year and was the bookies' favourite.
