Read Extracts from the 2025 Booker Prize Longlist

The announcement of the 2025 Booker Prize longlist introduced readers to 13 remarkable novels, each chosen for its ambition, craft and power to speak to our times. Now, for the first time, readers everywhere can experience these works directly through exclusive extracts published on the Booker Prize website.

The initiative brings the longlist closer to readers across the world. Whether in London or Lagos, Karachi or New York, anyone with an internet connection can open the same pages, encounter the same characters, and step into the same imaginative worlds as the judges.

An extract is more than a preview: it is an invitation. In a handful of pages, readers glimpse the rhythm of a writer’s voice, the promise of a story, and the questions a novel dares to ask. One passage may reveal the haunting lyricism of a debut novelist; another may showcase the daring structure of a seasoned author returning to the Booker stage.

The extracts are intended to democratise the longlist. They give readers everywhere the opportunity to participate in the conversation usually reserved for critics and prize panels. By sampling each book, readers can begin to form their own shortlist, join the debate, and share in the excitement as the prize journey unfolds.

The Booker Prize is not only about honouring writers; it is about inspiring readers. Making extracts available reflects this mission in the digital age, opening doors to novels that may otherwise remain undiscovered.

As the shortlist announcement approaches on 23 September 2025, these extracts provide the perfect opportunity to begin the journey. For some, a passage may be enough; for others, it will be the spark that leads to the full novel — and perhaps even to a lifelong favourite.

In offering these glimpses of the longlist, the Booker Prize reminds us that literature begins with a moment of recognition: a voice on the page that feels as though it is speaking directly to us.