BEST BOOKER PRIZE IN 50 YEARS

Set at the end of World War II, this novel explores the lives of four very disparate people who find themselves holed up together in a ruined villa north of Florence as the war retreats around them. The author was awarded the 1992 Booker Prize for this book.

THE ‘English Patient’ has been crowned the best ever Man Booker prize winner.

The novel by Michael Ondaatje was chosen by the public as the recipient for the Golden Man Booker prize, a one-off accolade to mark its 50th anniversary.

All 51 previous winners of the prize were considered by a panel of five judges, each of whom was asked to read the winning novels from one decade of the prize’s history, before the books faced a month-long public vote.

The panel judges were journalist Robert McCrum, who chose In a Free State by VS Naipaul for the 1970s; poet Lemn Sissay, who chose Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively for the 1980s; novelist Kamila Shamsie, who chose the English Patient for the 1990s; broadcaster Simon Mayo, who chose Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel for the 2000s; and, poet Hollie McNish, who chose Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders for the 2010s.

Speaking about why she had chosen The English Patient, Miss Shamsie said: “The English Patient is that rare novel which gets under your skin and insists you return to it time and again, always yielding a new surprise or delight.”

The novel – written by Sri-Lankan born Ondaatje in 1992 – tells of the entanglement of four people in an Italian villa, including an English burns victim, as the Second World War ends.

It was adapted into a multiple Oscar-winning film in 1996 starring Kristin Scott Thomas, pictured.

Baroness Helena Kennedy, chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation, added: “The English Patient is a compelling work of fiction – both poetic and philosophical – and is a worthy winner.” The winner was announced at a ceremony at the Southbank Centre in London.