To celebrate 50 years of Man Booker Prize, this year, a special Golden Man Booker Prize has been selected by a shortlist of five titles not only judged by a panel of judges but voted for by the public. The English patient by Michael Ondaatje is the winner.

According to the judges, Set in 1945, The English Patient explores the lives of four very disparate war torn people, a young woman and three men, who take refuge in a damaged villa north of Florence as the war retreats around them. In an upstairs room lies the badly burned English patient, alive but unable to move. His extraordinary adventures and turbulent love affair in the North African desert before the war provide the focus around which the vivid tales of his companions revolve. His very presence will forever change the destiny of those around him.

There is also a Oscar-winning film adaptation of the novel. You can borrow both book and film from our library. Continue reading →