**WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025**
Through 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 lives
Fifteen-year-old Istvan lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he becomes isolated, with his neighbour - a married woman - as his only companion. When a clandestine relationship begins between them, his life spirals out of control.
As the years pass, Istvan moves from the army to the circles of London's elite. His competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth win him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely.
'Brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money' David Nicholls
'One of the most astonishing books I've ever read' Dua Lipa
'So much searing insight into the way we live now' Observer
'I was tearing through Flesh**, I never once slowed down' Jennette McCurdy**
'Brilliance on every page' Samantha Harvey
'Hugely entertaining, gripping like a thriller' The Times
© David Szalay 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
