The protagonist’s inner life is hidden from the reader in this highly original novel David Szalay wins 2025 Booker prize for ‘dark’ Flesh The protagonist’s inner life is hidden from the reader in this highly original novel David Szalay wins 2025 Booker prize for ‘dark’ Flesh R eflecting on the Booker judging process, chair Roddy Doyle stressed the “singularity” of Flesh , the most unusual novel on the shortlist. In his sixth book, Hungarian-British writer David Szalay takes a classic story arc –