British-Hungarian writer David Szalay won the Booker Prize on Monday for his novel Flesh, a tortured story of a Hungarian émigré who makes and loses a fortune.
Szalay beat five other shortlisted authors, including Indian novelist Kiran Desai, who won in 2006, and Britain’s Andrew Miller, to claim the £50,000 (US$65,500) award at a ceremony in London.
Szalay had previously been shortlisted for the prestigious literary honour in 2016 for his last work, All That Man Is.
His sixth novel, Flesh is another unflattering exploration of masculinity, using sparse prose to track the Hungarian protagonist from military service in his home country to working for the ultra-wealthy in London.
His tormented life includes affairs with older women and fighting in Iraq.