Irish novelist John Banville takes Booker Prize

John Banville took home the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction with The Sea, the story of Max Morden, a middle-aged art historian, who attempts to face the trials of later life by flinging himself headlong towards the mysteries of his youth.

John Banville's 1989 novel, Book of Evidence, was shortlisted for the Man Booker, but was beat out by The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. This time it was Banville who won out over Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

The Past Ten Years' Man Booker Prize Winners