David Szalay's 'Flesh' proudly takes the Booker, body and soul

CANADIAN-Hungarian-British writer David Szalay won the Booker Prize for fiction on Monday for "Flesh," the story of one man's life from workingclass origins in Hungary to mega-wealth in Britain, in which what isn't on the page is just as important as what is.

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Szalay, 51, beat five other finalists, including favorites Andrew Miller of Britain and Indian author Kiran Desai, to take the coveted literary award, which brings a 50,000-pound payday and a big boost to the winner's sales and profile. He was chosen from 153 submitted novels by a judging panel that included Irish writer Roddy Doyle and "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker. Doyle said "Flesh", a book "about living, and the strangeness of living", emerged as the judges' unanimous choice after a five-hour meeting.