Flesh by David Szalay

**WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025**'A masterpiece, told with virtuosic economy. Pure brilliance from the first to the (devastating) last sentence' India Knight 'Brilliance on every page' Samantha Harvey'Spare, visceral, urgent, compelling. This book doesn't f**k around' Gary Stevenson`So brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money' David NichollsThrough chance, luck and choice, one man's life takes him from a modest apartment in Hungary to the elite society of London - in this captivating new novel about the forces that make and break our livesFifteen-year-old Istv?n lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbour - a married woman close to his mother's age - as his only companion. As these encounters shift into a clandestine relationship, Istv?n's life spirals out of control. Years later, rising through the ranks from the army to the elite circles of London's super-rich, he navigates the twenty-first century's tides of money and power. Torn between love, intimacy, status, and wealth, his newfound riches threaten to undo him completely. `How do I get out of a reading slump? This is the book to do that' Rhianna Dhillon, BBC Radio 4'A revelatory novel' Sunday Times'So much searing insight into the way we live now' Observer`Refreshing, illuminating and true' Financial Times'Compelling and elegant, merciless and poignant' Tessa Hadley'One of the year's best novels to date' Daily Mail`Utterly engrossing and I read it all in a day' 5* reader review`I was hooked and tried to read this book with any spare moment that I had' 5* reader reviewA `Best Book of 2025' in the Guardian, Observer, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail
Binding: Hardback