The flesh of David Szalad won the 2025 award in Fiction

British Hungunarian author David Sazalay won this year’s Booker Prize for his novel Flesh, which the judges described as “a special book”.

The flesh tells the story of a fascinating, enigmatic and emotional man who goes through different phases of his life, from a Hungarian residence to the world of London.

“What we like most about the content is how cohesive it is. It’s not like any other book,” said author Roddy Doyely, who chaired the judging panel. “It was a dark book, but we all found it a joy to read.”

The actress Sarah Jessica Parker is one of the other judges of the Booker, while the flesh is led by Dua Lipa and Stormzy.

Stormbiyab records a book takeover for a short film which was played at the Booker prize ceremony in London on Monday.

And Dua Lipa described it as a “tense and intense read” when she picked it up for her book club last month.

The flesh has rave reviews across the board.

The Guardian called it a “great spare portrait of a man” and a “thrilling exploration of what it means to be alive”, while Sunday Times Praise How Szalay uses a character, ISTVAN, to tell these three stages of modern man”.

Critics and judges also praised the pared-down, monolog and descriptions of the monolog and descriptions of Szaralog.

“We love writing security,” Doyle explained. “We love how things are revealed when we don’t know they’re being revealed.

“It’s amazing how he uses the white space. Sadness is depicted in a few blank pages.”

Commenting on the writing style, Doyle added: “I found it riveting, and I thought the dialogue was better – and the absence of it was better.”

The organizers of the Booker described the content as “a reflection on class, power, masculinity and masculinity”, and called it “a compelling experience of a man, and an inspiring experience of a man, and an inspiring description of a life”.

The judges spent more than five hours discussing the six shortlisted novels before settling on the winner. Doyy said it was “very clear that this was the book that all five wanted the most”.

“They find it spare, disciplined, urgent, honest and hurtful,” said Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.

“With the content, they all agreed, I broke David Szazalay. I shared the excitement of the judges in the work of an author who has written with fierce and fierce commitment for many years.”

The content of Szalay’s sixth novel, and he previously chose the booker for all men, is another exploration of modern masculinity, in 2016.

He collected £50,000 as this year’s winner.

Other shortlisted novels are:

• Susan Choi – Flashlight
• Kiran NAI – the loneliness of sonia and sunny
• Katie Kitamura – Audition
• Ben Markovits – the rest of our lives
• Andrew Miller – the land of winter

The Booker prize is the UK’s most ambitious award and is open to novels written in the English language.

Past winners include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Metel and Douglas Stuart.