Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song wins the 2023 Booker Prize – but the judges picked the wrong Paul

With three Pauls on a shortlist of six names, there was a decent chance one would triumph with the 2023 Booker Prize. Edugyan conceded that the final choice, after Saturday’s six-hour meeting with fellow judges actor Adjoa Andoh, poet Mary Jean Chan, literature professor James Shapiro and writer and Peep Show star Robert Webb, “wasn’t unanimous”. open image in gallery The six shortlisted works for the 2023 Booker Prize Edugyan repeatedly used the words “visceral experience” to describe reading Prophet Song and it is true that there are genuine feats of language in the dense, lyrical monolithic paragraphs that bring to life Eilish’s encirclement by malevolent forces. open image in gallery Paul Harding was one of the six shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Booker judges face a tricky task with so many rich pickings to choose from, but I do wonder whether 2023’s choice is somewhat reminiscent of last year, when the sublime “traditional” storytelling small-town novel by Claire Keegan lost out – unfairly in my opinion – to the more experimental and self-consciously ambitious “metaphysical thriller”, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka. Prophet Song will get a Christmas spike in sales, but if you’re looking for an entertaining, thought-provoking festive gift, I would recommend making a beeline for Murray’s magnificent, multi-layered story, even if it doesn’t have a “Booker winner” sticker attached to its cover.