Flesh by David Szalay | Winner of the Booker Prize 2025 | Award-Winning Contemporary Literary Fiction Novel

Flesh is a novel by David Szalay, winner of the 2025 Booker Prize. It is a work of contemporary literary fiction.

Key details

• Author: David Szalay
• Winner of the Booker Prize 2025
• Genre: contemporary literary fiction
• Character-driven novel

Synopsis

Beginning with István as a teenager in Hungary, the narrative follows his life across decades as circumstances shift and opportunities open and close. Szalay traces a path that moves from early years in Hungary through military service and later life in London, shaped by relationships, chance encounters and personal choices.

Along the way, the novel explores desire, ambition, class, masculinity and intimacy, paying close attention to the forces that shape a human life and the distance between what people want and what life ultimately gives them. Suitable for readers of award-winning literary fiction and for book club discussion.

Rackhams Reference : 1725B5IWAI