Troubles by J. G. Farrell won the Lost Man Booker Prize for novels published in 1970.
The award was created to fill a historical gap in the Booker’s eligibility rules. The prize originally considered books published during the previous year, but a change meant that novels published in 1970 were not covered by a regular Booker award. In 2010, organisers created a one-off public vote for that missing year.
A longlist of 22 novels was reduced to six finalists. Troubles defeated The Birds on the Trees, The Bay of Noon, Fire from Heaven, The Driver’s Seat and The Vivisector. Farrell’s novel won 38 percent of the public vote, and the result was announced on 19 May 2010—four decades after publication.
Troubles is set in Ireland during the period surrounding the Irish War of Independence and follows Major Brendan Archer at the deteriorating Majestic Hotel. Farrell had already won the 1973 Booker Prize for The Siege of Krishnapur, so the Lost Man Booker result added a remarkable second Booker victory to his reputation, albeit posthumously.