Shankari Chandran has been named the winner of this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Chai Thai at Cinnamon Gardens. The Miles Franklin Literary Award recognises a novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases.

An outstanding book exploring family and memory, community and race, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is a novel full of warmth and connection.

Sydney - populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights - a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.

But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.

When describing this year’s winning novel, the judges said, “Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is alive with character, dialogue and action. With enormous skill Chandran recounts a solemn history, largely through a cast of squabbling, endearing elders, and invites us to open our hearts and minds: ‘If you read the literature of a country ... you will understand it; you will fall in love with it.’”

First awarded in 1957, the Miles Franklin Literary Award is presented annually and its winners receive $60,000 in prize money. You can find out more about the award here.