It was described as a soul-shattering and true novel that captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment by the judging chair, Esi Edugyan. Canadian novelist Edugyan, who has twice been shortlisted for the Booker prize herself, said the decision to award Lynch the 50,000 prize wasn't unanimous and was settled on by discussion and multiple rounds of voting that lasted about six hours on Saturday.
Prophet Song takes place in an alternate Dublin. Members of the newly formed secret police, established by a government turning towards totalitarianism, turn up on the doorstep of microbiologist Eilish asking for her husband, a senior official in the Teachers' Union of Ireland. Soon, he disappears along with hundreds of other civilians and Eilish is left to look after their four children and her elderly father, fighting to hold the family together amid civil war.
It is with immense pleasure that I bring the Booker home to Ireland, said Lynch upon receiving the prize. This is the second year in a row that a novel about political conflict has won the prize.
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