Which David Szalay novel won the 2025 Booker Prize?

David Szalay’s novel Flesh won the 2025 Booker Prize.

Szalay was named the winner at the Booker Prize ceremony on 10 November 2025. The novel follows István, a Hungarian man whose life moves through hardship, migration, work and wealth, using a restrained style to explore the physical and social experience of being alive. The judges described it as an extraordinary and singular novel.

The victory was notable in Szalay’s career: he had previously been shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2016 for All That Man Is. Flesh made him the first Hungarian-British author to win the prize, and he received the £50,000 award.

The answer is sometimes confused with Spring, Turbulence or London and the South-East because those are also titles associated with David Szalay’s bibliography. They are not the 2025 Booker winner. The award recognizes the novel Flesh, not Szalay’s earlier shortlisted work.