Irish novelist Anne Enright has become the surprise winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize, for her novel The Gathering.
The award was announced at the Guildhall in London a short time ago.
Anne Enright pictured today in London with her winning novel. Photo: PA
Bookmakers had given Enright odds of about 9-1, against favourite and previous winner Ian McEwan for his novel On Chesil Beachand Lloyd Jones for Mister Pip.
Chair of the judging panel Howard Davies said the winning novel was "an unflinching look at a grieving family in tough and striking language".
The Bray, Co Wicklow based author and former RTÉ producer Enright (45) wins £52,500 (€77,200), including the £2,500 awarded to each of the six shortlisted writers. She can also expect to see a significant boost to the sales of her other books.
It was widely predicted that Ian McEwan would become the third double winner of the coveted literary award this evening.
The Literary Correspondent of The Irish Times, Eileen Battersby, described The Gatheringa "a confident, vivid account of nine members of a dysfunctional clan meeting up in Dublin for the funeral of their brother".
The longlist of 13 books, announced in August, was chosen from 110 entries; 92 were submitted for the prize, and 18 were called in by the judges.
The shortlist announced on September 6th was: Darkmansby Nicola Barker, The Gatheringby Anne Enright, The Reluctant Fundamentalistby Mohsin Hamid, Mister Pipby Lloyd Jones, On Chesil Beachby Ian McEwan and Animal's Peopleby Indra Sinha.