AN author who says that writing saved her from a chaotic lifestyle has won this year's Dundee International Book Prize.

Amy Mason will receive £10,000, the largest cash prize for an unpublished author in the UK, and a deal with Glasgow-based Cargo Publishing for her novel, 'The Other Ida'.

The writer, who lives in Oxford, first put pen to paper after taking a class when she was 25 and entered the competition on a whim after publishing her first novel.

Her book sees a young woman, named after a hit play written by her heavy-drinking mother, return home after the older woman finally succumbs to alcoholism.

The 32-year-old said: "I was interested in the fate of 'celebrity offspring', the pressure they face and how it often seems that the script for their lives is already written and is certain to end badly.

"With Ida I wanted to imagine a child being named after their parent's most famous piece of work, and the kind of additional angst and chaos that would provoke.

"I'm also really interested in people who lose fame, which is what happens to Ida's mother, so she has this weird semi-famous name, but the family haven't got money for food."

Her novel was picked out of 400 other entrants by this year's judging panel, comprising writer Neil Gaiman, broadcaster Kirsty Lang, agent Felicity Blunt, publisher Scott Pack and former Man Booker Prize judge Stuart Kelly.

She added: "I entered on a whim, and cried every time I got to another stage in the competition. To get the novel published, and enough money to keep me writing for a year, is amazing."