David Szalay is a worthy winner of the Booker Prize

The results of last night’s Booker Prize – the most prestigious and generous prize for literature in the country – were not entirely as anticipated. In a notably strong shortlist, which was finely balanced with three men and three women, it was anticipated that Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter would be the frontrunner for the £50,000.

Miller, who was previously nominated for the prize in 2001 with his novel Oxygen, may have been the best-known author on the shortlist. The Land in Winter is certainly the best-selling of the six, with sales that were rumoured to be in excess of the other five novels combined. It was the bookie’s favourite, and, as an admirer of the novel, I was even tempted to put a tenner on what seemed a sure thing.

Szalay’s victory last night furthers the sense