The Booker Prizes 2025 Shortlist: Six Groundbreaking Books Redefining Literature

Flesh

by David Szalay

At fifteen, István lives a quiet, sheltered life in Hungary with his mother. Shy and uncertain, he struggles to fit in at school, finding companionship only with his older, married neighbour. But when their bond crosses a dangerous line, his world begins to unravel in ways he could never have imagined.

Years later, István has remade himself—rising from the army to the glittering circles of London’s super-rich. Surrounded by power, privilege, and temptation, he must reckon with the choices that brought him here and the desires that still haunt him.

Caught between love and ambition, intimacy and status, István discovers that the very forces that built his life may also be the ones to destroy it.

The Land in Winter

by Andrew Miller

December 1962, the West Country. A brutal winter settles over the landscape, and two couples find themselves caught in its grip.

Eric Parry, a local doctor, carries unspoken secrets with him on his rounds, while his pregnant wife lies asleep in their cottage. Nearby, Rita Simmons drifts through uneasy dreams of a past her husband refuses to acknowledge. On their struggling dairy farm, he battles the elements and his own failings, determined to reinvent himself before it all slips away.

But as snow turns to unrelenting blizzards, isolation closes in. The cold gnaws at walls and relationships alike, forcing each of them to confront truths they’ve tried to bury. In a frozen world where escape is impossible, the question remains: how long can they survive—together or apart?

The Rest of our Lives

by Ben Markovits

What’s left when the children are grown and gone?

For Tom Layward, the answer comes on a quiet drive to drop his youngest daughter at university. Twelve years earlier, when his wife’s affair shattered their marriage, he made a silent promise to leave once the kids were grown. Now, with an empty nest ahead, Tom keeps driving—this time toward the unknown.

Set against the backdrop of an unforgettable road trip, this story dives deep into love, betrayal, and the weight of promises made. It’s a moving exploration of what it means to start over, and how we find ourselves again when the life we built no longer fits.

Audition

by Katie Kitamura

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

by Kiran Desai

A chance encounter on an overnight train brings Sonia and Sunny together—two young people captivated by each other, yet awkwardly aware of their grandparents’ long-ago matchmaking attempt that once drove them apart.

Sonia, an aspiring novelist recently returned from the snowy mountains of Vermont, carries the weight of a dark spell cast by an artist she once trusted. Sunny, a journalist resettled in New York, struggles to escape his overbearing mother and a violent family legacy. Together, they navigate the challenges of love, identity, and belonging in a world shaped by history, class, and expectation.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is a sweeping story of passion, family, and the forces that shape our lives. Part love story, part family saga, and part meditation on society, it is an ambitious, richly imagined novel about connection, choice, and the search for happiness.

Flashlight

by Susan Choi

One summer evening in a coastal Japanese town, ten-year-old Louisa and her father, Serk, take a walk on the breakwater—only for Louisa to wake hours later washed ashore, her father missing and presumed drowned.

The devastating loss tears her family apart, sending Louisa and her American mother, Anne, back to the United States. Across continents and decades, from post-war Japan to suburban America and the shadow of North Korea’s regime, the mystery of Serk’s disappearance begins to unfold, revealing the astonishing impact of history, exile, and family ties.

This sweeping novel is a moving exploration of loss, resilience, and the enduring bonds that shape a family across generations.