Hungarian British author David Szalay wins Booker Prize 2025 for his novel Flesh

Hungarian British author David Szalay has won the prestigious Booker Prize, worth 50,000 British pounds ($101,000), for his dark but strangely humorous book, Flesh.

The novel charts the life of the taciturn loner István, living in a housing estate in Hungary. His life is shaped by the affair he has as a teenager with his middle-aged neighbour.

2025 Booker Prize shortlist

Flashlight by Susan Choi

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Audition by Katie Kitamura

The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Flesh by David Szalay

Jumping forward in time each chapter, Flesh takes István from his small hometown to the Middle East, where he waits for a flight home after serving in the Iraq War.

He later moves to England, where a job in security le