The Believer magazine has named Tamara Faith Berger’s Maidenhead (Coach House Books), one of Q&Q‘s books of the year, as the “strongest and most underappreciated” book of 2012.

Nominees for the annual award are submitted by readers. The winner is selected by the magazine’s editors, who praised the book for its handling of race, class, and other “cultural conundrums.”

A full announcement of the award will appear in the May issue of The Believer.