Da Vinci Code...
author Dan Brown
Bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, derided by critics and the subject of furious religious debate, has won best book at the British Book Awards.
Dan Brown, author of the book which has sold 17 million copies, said by video that he was delighted the novel had proved so controversial.
He missed out in the best author award - given to Sheila Hancock who wrote about her life with actor John Thaw. And the literary fiction award went to Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Brown, an American former teacher who rarely makes public appearances, said of the quasi-historical thriller: "For the record, it is a novel."
Da Vinci Code writer Dan Brown was pleased the book was controversial. Bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, derided by critics and the subject of furious religious debate, has won best book at the British Book Awards.

Dan Brown, author of the book which has sold 17 million copies, said by video that he was delighted the novel had proved so controversial. He missed out in the best author award - given to Sheila Hancock who wrote about her life with actor John Thaw.

And the literary fiction award went to Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

Brown, an American former teacher who rarely makes public appearances, said of the quasi-historical thriller: "For the record, it is a novel."In the book, Brown wrote that Leonardo Da Vinci's painting The Last Supper holds the key to the Holy Grail - which is not a chalice, as traditionally believed, but Mary Magdalene.

It claims Jesus and Mary married and had a child and that their bloodline survives to this day - a secret kept by the Catholic Church.
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