Flesh
By david szalay

Brilliance on every page'and Samantha Harvey'Spare, visceral, urgent, compelling. This book doesn't f**k around'and Gary Stevenson So brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money'and David Nicholls How do I get out of a reading slump? This is the book to do that'and Rhianna Dhillon,and BBC Radio 4Through chance, luck and choice, one man's life takes him from a modest apartment in Hungary to the elite society of London - in this captivating new novel about the forces that make and break our livesFifteen-year-old István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbour - a married woman close to his mother's age - as his only companion. As these encounters shift into a clandestine relationship, István's life spirals out of control.Years later, rising through the ranks from the army to the elite circles of London's super-rich, he navigates the twenty-first century's tides of money and power. Torn between love, intimacy, status, and wealth, his newfound riches threaten to undo him completely.'A revelatory novel'and Sunday Times'So much searing insight into the way we live now'and Observer Refreshing, illuminating and true'and Financial Times'Compelling and elegant, merciless and poignant'and Tessa Hadley Utterly engrossing and I read it all in a day'and 5* reader review I was hooked and tried to read this book with any spare moment that I had'and 5* reader reviewA Best Book of 2025' in theand Guardian,and Observer,and Financial Times,and Daily Telegraphand andand Daily Mail