In a literary world increasingly fascinated by stories of displacement and identity, David Szalay has claimed one of fiction’s most coveted honors with a novel about a man who belongs nowhere completely.
The 51-year-old Hungarian-British writer was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize on Monday evening for his novel “Flesh,” beating out five other finalists including previous winner Kiran Desai and Britain’s Andrew Miller. The victory at London’s Old Billingsgate came with a £50,000 prize—roughly $65,500—and the kind of career transformation that has become synonymous with the award.
Szalay’s winning novel tells the story of Istvan, a taciturn Hungarian immigrant whose life unfolds across decades and borders. The narrative traces his journey from a teenage relationship with an older woman through his years as a struggling newcomer in Britain, eventually landing him in the rarefied circles of London’s elite. Along the way, readers witness both his rise to wealth and its subsequent loss.
What sets “Flesh” apart, according to the judges, is Szalay’s distinctive use of spare prose and strategic white space on the page. Irish writer Roddy Doyle, who served on this year’s judging panel alongside actress Sarah Jessica Parker and others, described it as a book “about living, and the strangeness of living” that emerged as the unanimous choice after a marathon five-hour deliberation.
“We had never read anything quite like it,” Doyle explained in a statement. “It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read. I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe—almost to create—the character with him.”
The judges praised the novel as a meditation on themes that resonate deeply in today’s globalized world: class, power, intimacy, migration, and masculinity. They called it “a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime.”
Read also: Palestinian Novelist Freed After 21 Years In Israeli Jail
Accepting his trophy, Szalay acknowledged the unconventional nature of his work. He recalled asking his editor whether she could imagine “a novel called ‘Flesh’ winning the Booker Prize.” On Monday night, he had his answer.
The author’s own life mirrors some of his protagonist’s displacement. Born in Canada, raised in the UK, and now living in Vienna, Szalay spoke to BBC Radio about feeling perpetually caught between worlds. “Even though my father is Hungarian, I never felt entirely at home in Hungary,” he said. “I suppose I’m always a bit of an outsider there, and living away from the UK and London for so many years, I also had a similar feeling about London.”
This sense of not quite belonging became the emotional engine of “Flesh,” his sixth work of fiction. Szalay was previously a Booker finalist in 2016 for “All That Man Is,” a collection centered on nine vastly different male characters.
This year’s competition was particularly strong. Betting markets had favored Miller’s 1960s domestic drama “The Land in Winter” and Desai’s “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” her first novel since winning the Booker in 2006. The other contenders included Susan Choi’s family saga “Flashlight,” Katie Kitamura’s “Audition,” and Ben Markovits’s “The Rest of Our Lives.”
Beyond the prize money, Szalay and his fellow finalists—who each received £2,500—can expect the kind of sales boost and heightened visibility that has defined the Booker since its founding in 1969. Previous winners include literary giants like Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and last year’s champion Samantha Harvey for her space station novel “Orbital.”