Today, at a ceremony in London, M. John Harrison received the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel, The End of Everything. Mary Beard, who chaired this year’s judging panel, described it as a work that overturns expectations, provokes a wry smile, and, despite its weighty subject, carries a hint of optimism.
Central to the story are Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie, living on the south coast of England, a few decades into the future, some years after a mysterious catastrophe: an invasion of “iGhetti” (the “i” hinting at something digital, but you can’t be sure).
Social norms have been eroded, law and order have fallen into the hands of vigilantes, and you may well have a crashed plane lodged in your garden. People try to muddle through nonetheless, even making a show of business as usual (children’s parties and a morning coffee at a seaside café).
Some try desperately to make sense of what has happened. But one main point of the book is that if, or when, such an apocalypse comes it will be incomprehensible. And the old rules won’t matter either. Phillip is landed with an “item” he found on the beach, a blob of jelly which quickly grows, develops speech and starts to tell his human minders what to do. This is the politics of now seen through the lens of the future.
The End of Everything was unanimously chosen from the shortlist of six announced in September. At 81, Harrison is the oldest author to win in the history of the prize. He will take home £50,000; each shortlisted author will receive £2,500.
A portion of the novel is available for reading here.
