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Slideshow: Ten years of Man Booker Prize Winners
by Liz Olson
The Man Booker Prize honors the best work of fiction written in English by a citizen of a current or former British Commonwealth country. Considered Britain's most prestigious literary prize, the Booker is presented each October or November by the National Book League in the United Kingdom. In 2002, the purse increased from $30,000 to $75,000.
- The God of Small Things
- By Arundhati Roy
- 1997
 - In this semi-autobiographical story set in India, fraternal twins Rahel and Estha become victims of circumstance. Roy portrays family tragedy and drama, cultural expectations and restrictions, and politics through the unguarded, innocent observation of children.
- Fun Fact: The title The God of Small Things refers to the character Velutha, a family handyman.
- Amsterdam
- By Ian McEwan
- 1998
 - Amsterdam, a tale of morality in contemporary Britain, centers on two successful men, Vernon Halliday, a newspaper editor, and Clive Linley, a composer. After they attend the funeral of Molly Lane, a former lover of both men, who died of a degenerative illness, the two men make a pact to euthanize the other if he ever suffers from such a disease. However, the pact falls apart when the two men become enemies and seek revenge on each other.
- Fun Fact: In the novel, Amsterdam is where Clive must premiere his composition commissioned by the Millennium Symphony.
- Disgrace
- By J. M. Coetzee
- 1999
 - Coetzee fluidly depicts the social and political turmoil of his homeland, contemporary South Africa. Disgrace features a twice-married, twice-divorced 52-year-old professor, David Lurie, who tries to flee personal and professional shame. Lurie leaves his life behind to live on his daughter's farm only to find brutality, heartbreak, and further disgrace.
- Fun Fact: J.M. Coetzee also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003.
- The Blind Assassin
- By Margaret Atwood
- 2000
 - Set in Canada amid a century of history, including the Depression and World War II, The Blind Assassin reveals the intricacies of family and sibling rivalry and the complexities of the individual mind. Atwood writes about Iris Chase Griffen and her personal tragedies, illuminating human promise, betrayal, sexual obsession, and love in a time of social unrest.
- Fun Fact: Margaret Atwood became internationally famous after the success of her 1984 novel, The Handmaid's Tale.
- True History of the Kelly Gang
- By Peter Carey
- 2001
 - Despite its title, True History of the Kelly Gang, Carey's novel is a fictional account of the life of Ned Kelly—a famous criminal who lived in Australia during the late-19th century. Kelly was a legendary man who eluded the corrupt police force in Australia; Carey likens Ned Kelly to a modern-day Robin Hood. The novel is narrated through a series of letters that Kelly writes to a daughter he will never see, explaining the saga of his and his family's life in colonial Australia.
- Fun Fact: Ned Kelly's father, John "Red" Kelly, was an Irishman who was transported to Australia, eventually settling in the Victoria.
- Life of Pi
- By Yann Martel
- 2002
 - Yann Martel weaves an imaginative tale of faith in his adventurous novel, Life of Pi. The main character, Pi Patel is a 16-year-old boy and son of a zoo keeper in India. The family packs up its menagerie and sets out to for Canada, but is shipwrecked during their journey across the Pacific. Drifting for 227 days on a life raft, Pi faces the elements, battling his own hunger and imagination to survive.
- Fun Fact: Yann Martel is a Canadian author, born in Spain, who was inspired to write Life of Pi during a trip to India.
- Vernon God Little
- By DBC Pierre
- 2003
 - DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little is a dark comedy set in Texas during the aftermath of a local school shooting. The first-person novel is narrated by 15-year-old Vernon Little, who has been accused of being an accessory in the school shootings. Despite his innocence, Little flees his town, fearing the media and a possible death sentence. Vernon God Little is a satirical portrayal of American society and a 15-year-old's struggle to understand life.
- Fun Fact: DBC Pierre is the pen name of an Australian writer named Peter Finlay, who lived much of his life in Mexico and Texas.
- The Line of Beauty
- By Alan Hollinghurst
- 2004
 - Nick Guest, a young outsider, moves in with the family of a wealthy friend and becomes involved in the sophisticated gay culture of 1980s London. He struggles to gain acceptance with the social elite and is conflicted about the importance of money, sex, and class. Hollinghurst writes in elegant, seductive, and dream-like prose and sets the novel in an atmosphere of dark opulence and passion.
- Fun Fact: The Line of Beauty was made into a BBC television drama series and a feature film in 2006.
- The Sea
- By John Banville
- 2005
 - In The Sea, John Banville paints a portrait of Max Morden, who is at a crossroad in life, mourning the loss of his wife. Reminiscing about his past, Morden returns to the seaside town where he spent a memorable summer during his youth. His memory centers on the Grace family, who he met in that seaside town, the relationship he formed with them, and the traumatic history they shared.
- Fun Fact: The Sea, is the 14th novel written by John Banville.
- The Inheritance of Loss
- By Kiran Desai
- 2006
 - Political and familial tension courses through The Inheritance of Loss, set in the Himalayan foothills during the 1980s, when the Nepalese movement for an independent state was about to erupt. Desai portrays poverty, love, class, modernization, and cultural identity through the lives, struggles, and romances of the characters, Jemubhai, a Cambridge-educated judge and his orphaned 17-year-old granddaughter, Sai.
- Fun Fact: The daughter of novelist Anita Desai (author of 1984's In Custody), Kiran Desai grew up in India, England, and the United States
- The Gathering
- By Anne Enright
- 2007
 - In The Gathering, Enright tells the story of a large Irish family reuniting for the funeral of their rebellious brother. Her richly detailed prose combines honesty and subtle humor to portray enthralling stories of complicated family relationships, cultural and religious repression, and emotional turmoil in contemporary Ireland.
- Fun Fact: The main character in The Gathering, Veronica Hegerty, is one of 12 children.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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