Booker Prize Winners by Plot

2020

A boy grows up in working-class Glasgow with his siblings and his alcoholic mother.

2017

Abraham Lincoln wanders a liminal space and deals with his son's death.

2009

Thomas Cromwell, a mercenary-turned lawyer, finds himself in the service of King Henry VIII as the king attempts to annul his marriage.

2003

After his best friend carries out a school shooting, a Texan teenager attempts to prove his innocence and escape the attention of the authorities.

2002

After a shipwreck, a young Indian man finds himself adrift on a lifeboat in the company of a tiger.

1997

A set of fraternal twins reunite after separating during childhood and recount their life experiences in late 20th century India.

1995

In this conclusion to a trilogy, the soldier Billy Prior recovers from shell-shock and returns to the Western Front.

1992

In an abandoned Italian villa during WW2, a mysterious man who does not remember his own name recovers from his injuries.

1989

An English butler recounts his life experiences in the early 20th century, including his employer's turn to fascism, and reflects on missed opportunities and lost love.

1981

A young man with telepathic power and his family navigate India's new statehood following its partition in 1947.