Flesh
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025
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4.0 • 361 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
**WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025**
**A WATERSTONES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2026**
‘Brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money’ David Nicholls
‘I was tearing through [Flesh], I never once slowed down’ Jennette McCurdy
‘Brilliance on every page’ Samantha Harvey
‘So much searing insight into the way we live now’ Observer
Through 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 lives
Fifteen-year-old István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he becomes isolated, with his neighbour – a married woman – as his only companion. When a clandestine relationship begins between them, his life spirals out of control.
As the years pass, István moves from the army to the circles of London’s elite. His competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth win him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely.
‘An astonishingly moving portrait of a man’s life’ Booker Prize Judges, 2025
‘A revelatory novel’ Sunday Times
‘Pure brilliance from the first to the (devastating) last sentence’ India Knight
‘Refreshing, illuminating and true’ Financial Times
‘One of the most astonishing books I’ve ever read’ Dua Lipa
‘Hugely entertaining, gripping like a thriller’ The Times
‘Visceral and compelling’ Gary Stevenson
‘Exciting, propulsive, emotional’ Sarah Jessica Parker
*A BOOK OF THE YEAR for the Guardian, Observer, Financial Times, Sunday Times, Independent, GQ and Daily Telegraph*
Customer Reviews
A fascinating view of normality
Unlike most novels, the focus is on life between the big events and somehow that makes it feel very real. In fact it sometimes feels almost too real.
The story is fascinating, but I’m not sure why. Throughout, I wondered how it would/could end, but it ends perfectly.
Written simply but powerfully
Raced through this book as I couldn’t wait to see where the next chapter turned. Written in a style that says so little but forces you to fill in the gaps and follow, invested in Istvans journey.
How to write a book with zero emotion
2.5 Stars.
If this book is an exercise in writing in a very dull, mundane way, it has certainly achieved that. I can’t decide if I loved it or hated it. It’s quite frustrating to read at times, but I persevered. The protagonist goes through a series of life changing events but we never know how he feels so the whole thing comes off a bit boring and flat.