The Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the English-speaking world. Since its inception in 1969, Booker Prize-Winning Books has been recognising outstanding fiction. Celebrated for its influence on contemporary literature, the prize not only boosts the profile of the winning authors but also highlights narratives that challenge, inspire, and captivate readers like you globally.
10 Favourite Booker Prize-Winning Books of Ours
As we celebrate the 2024 Booker Prize winner, “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, let’s revisit some of our favourite past winners of the esteemed Booker Prizes.
1. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (2023)
In the novel Prophet Song, Paul Lynch presents the reader with intense, apocalyptic visions of Ireland as a collapsing society. Located in Dublin, the story portrays Eilish Stack, a scientist and a part-time mother of four children who has to struggle for her and her family’s existence in an increasingly authoritarian and tyrannical Irish society.
2. The Promise by Damon Galgut (2021)
Damon Galgut’s The Promise is a family story covering 30 years of South African history. It is the story of a white farmers’ family living on a prosperous coastal farm near Pretoria, who subsequently loses all their property. The title is based on a story that the father made to a dying wife. Nevertheless, due to various factors, the promise is not fulfilled for a longer period of time. The issue resurfaces over and over, generating squabbles between the father and his three children.
3. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (2019)
Girl, Woman, Other could not have a more perfectly chosen title. This novel consists of twelve interrelated stories concerning a particular woman; eleven of them are black, one a woman who did not know she had black genes in her blood. It also looks into topics like single motherhood, domestic abuse, drug abuse, and rape.
4. Milkman by Anna Burns (2018)
The plot revolves around an 18-year-old girl, the main protagonist, whose mother wants her married and having children. She is seeing a maybe-boyfriend when suddenly a paramilitary older man, the “milkman” starts stalking her.
5. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (2017)
Of all the Booker Prize-winning books, this is a piece of historical fiction, a blend of fact and fiction. Saunders writes that in 1862, the American Civil War had been raging for less than a year, now intensifying to unbearable proportions with the rising tide of the dead. In this context, Lincoln is going through some personally traumatic and testing times for himself.
6. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (2013)
This novel is based in large part on the New Zealand goldfields in the mid-1860s. It is a thrilling combined murder mystery, historical, romance, and drama that is done tastily and transcendentally, along with complicated characters and their interactions, explosive plot, and conventional turning points with a good old writing style.
7. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (2010)
The Finkler Question is a kind and sincere take on what antisemitism, otherness, hatred, jealousy, and love really are. The protagonist is, in spite, attacked and robbed, and to a great extent, he is sure that he was wrongly accused of being a Jew.
This marks the start of the entire ‘Finkler question’ that lies in his passionate bipolarity towards Jews. This is another hilarious, honest, and realistic account of the Jewish people from the assimilation and acceptance point of view, which this book encompasses with the sense of acceptance that only maturity can bring.
8. Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell #1) by Hilary Mantel (2009)
Wolf Hall is purely a work of fiction based on Thomas Cromwell’s life. The only sequences outside this time frame are some of the scenes concerning Thomas’s childhood decision to separate himself from his kin. The novel’s structure is delicate, and the story is not always chronologically told. The prose is a delight, and the author’s grasp of language and history is prodigious.
9. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)
The White Tiger offers a provocative narrative. It presents an unappealing depiction of India as a society plagued by corruption and servitude, revealing its darker facets. This depiction contrasts sharply with the glamorous portrayal often associated with Bollywood celebrities and technology moguls.
10. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
This novel follows the journey of a young man named Pi, who survives a shipwreck and finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The story explores themes of survival, faith, and the power of storytelling as Pi navigates the challenges of his situation and forms an unlikely bond with the tiger.
Dive into Our Favourites!
No doubt, all the Booker Prize-winning books are beautiful in their own way. But when it comes to our favourites, these ones hold a special place in our hearts. Each offers a unique glimpse into different worlds.
So, if you haven’t already, dive into these Booker Prize gems. As William Styron once said, “A great book should leave you… slightly exhausted at the end.” These books will do just that and more.