It was announced today that Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng's novel "The Garden of Evening Mists" has won the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize.

Tan's novel is set in the traumatic aftermath of Japan's wartime occupation of Malaya, now known as Malaysia. It tells the story of a young law school graduate who is the sole survivor of a Japanese work camp. She encounters the secretive owner and creator of the country's only Japanese garden.

The judges called it "a novel of subtle power and redemptive grace."

The book beat four others Thursday night to win the $30,000 award, one of Asia's most prestigious. Tan's book is only the second winner to be written in English.

Tan worked as an intellectual property lawyer before becoming an author. He has written one previous novel, "The Gift of Rain", which was long-listed for the prestigious Man-Booker Prize in 2007.