Overdue Booker nod brings Szalay in from the margins

A unique talent with a track record of challenging work, David Szalay creates worlds that are full of despicable characters and delectable prose

David Szalay after being named as the winner of the 2025 Booker Prize for the novel ‘Flesh’, at Old Billingsgate, London. His previous work ‘All That Man Is’ was shortlisted for the 2016 Booker and won the Gordon Burn Prize that year. Picture: Ian West/ PA

• Flesh
• David Szalay
• Jonathan Cape, €15.99