Franzen set to publish fifth novel

Jonathan Franzen set to publish his fifth novel titled Purity

Award-winning US novelist Jonathan Franzen is to publish his fifth book next September, titled Purity.

Jonathan Galassi, the president of Franzen's publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, revealed the news to the New York Times.

The novel, which spans decades and several continents, is about a girl called Purity who sets out to discover who her father is.

Franzen's previous books include best-sellers Freedom and The Corrections.

Freedom was his last novel, published in 2010.

Mr Galassi told the US newspaper that Purity was stylistically different to Franzen's previous work.

"There's a kind of fabulist quality to it," he said.

"It's not strict realism. There's a kind of mythic undertone to the story."

Franzen later confirmed the news by carrying the New York Times story on his Facebook page.

It was greeted with delight by his fans.

One wrote: "Five years after the last one, awesome. I was expecting to wait maybe two or three more years."

Another posted: "Best. News. Ever. Pre-ordering it now!"

Franzen is seen by many as the great chronicler of the American middle classes following the success of his 2001 family drama The Corrections.

His awards include the prestigious US National Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the UK's oldest literary award.

Last year he published a non-fiction work called The Kraus Project.

The book is a translation of some of the writing of early 20th Century Viennese philosopher and satirist Karl Kraus, whose work impressed Franzen when he was a student.