The 2020 Booker Prize
Explore the stories behind the Booker Prize winning years below.
Winner of the Booker Prize 2020
Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride. A counterpart to the privileged Thatcher-era London of Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty, it also recalls the work of Édouard Louis, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara, a blistering debut by a brilliant writer with a powerful and important story to tell.We were bowled over by this first novel, which creates an amazingly intimate, compassionate, gripping portrait of addiction, courage and love.
- The judges of the Booker Prize.
The 2020 Booker Prize shortlist
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Shuggie Bain
- By: Douglas Stuart
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest.
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Utter respect
- By KMV on 02-09-20
By: Douglas Stuart
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The New Wilderness
- By: Diane Cook
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bea's five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away. The smog and pollution of the overdeveloped, overpopulated metropolis they call home is ravaging her lungs. Bea knows she cannot stay in the City, but there is only one alternative: the Wilderness State. Mankind has never been allowed to venture into this vast expanse of untamed land. Until now. Bea and Agnes join 18 other volunteers who agree to take part in a radical experiment.
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Unbelievably overrated
- By Alice May on 19-09-20
By: Diane Cook
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This Mournable Body
- A Novel
- By: Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow's boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.
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Superb book ruined by inappropriate accent
- By A. Hunt on 01-11-20
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Burnt Sugar
- By: Avni Doshi
- Narrated by: Vineeta Rishi
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents) and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless 'artist' - all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, mixing up her maid's wages and leaving the gas on all night, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her.
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I didn't enjoy it
- By TheRealMrsB on 16-09-20
By: Avni Doshi
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The Shadow King
- By: Maaza Mengiste
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ethiopia, 1935. With the threat of Mussolini's army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid. Her new employer, Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie's army, rushes to mobilise his strongest men before the Italians invade. Hirut and the other women long to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia quickly loses hope, it is Hirut who offers a plan to maintain morale.
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A gun that has tasted blood wants more...
- By james walker on 10-08-20
By: Maaza Mengiste
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Real Life
- A Novel
- By: Brandon Taylor
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
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Story
Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends—some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness.
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Beautiful writing
- By Nicky D on 15-11-20
By: Brandon Taylor
-
Shuggie Bain
- By: Douglas Stuart
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest.
-
-
Utter respect
- By KMV on 02-09-20
By: Douglas Stuart
-
The New Wilderness
- By: Diane Cook
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bea's five-year-old daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away. The smog and pollution of the overdeveloped, overpopulated metropolis they call home is ravaging her lungs. Bea knows she cannot stay in the City, but there is only one alternative: the Wilderness State. Mankind has never been allowed to venture into this vast expanse of untamed land. Until now. Bea and Agnes join 18 other volunteers who agree to take part in a radical experiment.
-
-
Unbelievably overrated
- By Alice May on 19-09-20
By: Diane Cook
-
This Mournable Body
- A Novel
- By: Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow's boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.
-
-
Superb book ruined by inappropriate accent
- By A. Hunt on 01-11-20
-
Burnt Sugar
- By: Avni Doshi
- Narrated by: Vineeta Rishi
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents) and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless 'artist' - all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, mixing up her maid's wages and leaving the gas on all night, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her.
-
-
I didn't enjoy it
- By TheRealMrsB on 16-09-20
By: Avni Doshi
-
The Shadow King
- By: Maaza Mengiste
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ethiopia, 1935. With the threat of Mussolini's army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid. Her new employer, Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie's army, rushes to mobilise his strongest men before the Italians invade. Hirut and the other women long to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia quickly loses hope, it is Hirut who offers a plan to maintain morale.
-
-
A gun that has tasted blood wants more...
- By james walker on 10-08-20
By: Maaza Mengiste
-
Real Life
- A Novel
- By: Brandon Taylor
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends—some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness.
-
-
Beautiful writing
- By Nicky D on 15-11-20
By: Brandon Taylor
-
-
This Mournable Body
- A Novel
- By: Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival....
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-
Superb book ruined by inappropriate accent
- By A. Hunt on 01-11-20
-
This Mournable Body
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Series: Nervous Conditions, Book 3
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Release date: 07-08-18
- Language: English
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Regular price: £17.99 or 1 Credit
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Previous winners
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Winner of the Booker Prize 2020
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Winner of the Booker Prize 2019
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Winner of the Booker Prize 2019
Milkman by Anna Burns
Winner of the Booker Prize 2018
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Winner of the Booker Prize 2017
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
Winner of the Booker Prize 2016
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Winner of the Booker Prize 2015
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Winner of the Booker Prize 2014
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Winner of the Booker Prize 2013
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Winner of the Booker Prize 2012
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Winner of the Booker Prize 2011
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
Winner of the Booker Prize 2010