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LONDON — A satirical dystopian novel whose themes of “catastrophe and apocalypse” chime with our uneasy times won the Booker Prize on Monday, the first work of science fiction to take the prestigious literary award.

British writer M. John Harrison was awarded the 50,000-pound ($67,000) prize at a ceremony in London for “The End of Everything,” a book the judges said combines “huge ambition” and “extraordinary, expert writing.”

Harrison beat five other finalists including previous winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James, who had been the oddsmakers’ favorites, and Pulitzer Prize laureate Elizabeth Strout.

“The End of Everything” is set on England’s Channel coast in the near future, after an unspecified calamity has shattered society and brought an influx of enigmatic alien entities to Britain. It centers on a beachcomber who lives with his gun-toting aunt and discovers a puzzling, shape-shifting artifact on the shore.

Asked what he wanted to convey to readers, Harrison said: “It’s a grim world, and it’ll keep on being grim. And it’s weird. But at the end of things there may be some kind of — I wouldn’t say hope, or closure, but there might be some kind of relief.”

Critics have praised the book’s dark humor, though some have been confused by its elusive narrative.

Historian Mary Beard, who chaired the judging panel, said the book is “the politics of now seen through the lens of the future,” and about a society “undergoing a catastrophe that they don’t really understand.”

“What he does is to say, when the catastrophe comes, you won’t know what’s happening,” Beard said. “And there are bits where you, the reader, are with the characters in not fully understanding. Now, I think that’s fantastically exciting.”

Harrison’s work includes large dollops of fantasy and speculative fiction, and he won the Arthur C. Clarke science fiction award for a previous novel, “Nova Swing.” Although borders between publishing genres are increasingly blurred, it’s still rare for a work of sci-fi to win a major literary prize.

Harrison said before he won that he had been “working for 40 to 50 years to shift the balance, both as a novelist and as a critic. Why shouldn’t a well-written (work of science fiction) be considered to be literary fiction?”

Booker Prize Foundation Chief Executive Gaby Wood noted that the prize has removed references to “literary fiction” from its materials, because “all fiction is literary.”

Beard said Harrison’s win was “recognition of what some people would see as the blindingly obvious, that you find great books in every genre.”

Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize is open to English-language novels from any country published in the U.K. and Ireland and has a reputation for transforming writers’ careers.

Its winners have included Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Arundhati Roy. Last year’s winner was “Flesh” by Hungarian-British writer David Szalay.

Harrison, 81, is the oldest writer to win the Booker, two years older than Margaret Atwood when she won in 2019. “The End of Everything” is his 13th novel. But Beard said the prize was definitely “not a lifetime achievement award.”

“We thought this was a book that had earned it,” Beard said.

She said the judges, who included poet Raymond Antrobus and singer Jarvis Cocker from the band Pulp, met for four or five hours to pick a winner, and the choice was ultimately unanimous.

“There was a lot of discussion and disagreement and debate, but nobody stomped off,” she said.

Lawless writes for the Associated Press.

Fans say the Peaky Blinders star’s film is “totally absorbing yet disturbing”

Time is running out to watch what some consider as the Peaky Blinder star’s best movie.

A |masterpiece” period drama starring Cillian Murphy is leaving Netflix in a matter of days. Small Things Like These was only just added to the platform earlier this year but fans will need to act fast before it is removed from the service.

The film is an adaptation of the award winning book of the same name, written by Claire Keegan. It was shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize in 2022 as well as the Rathbones Folio Prize, while it took home the Orwell Prize for political fiction in the same year.

Its big screen version came out in 2024, with Irish actor Murphy in the leading role. Although it was perhaps overlooked by some, as this was the same year the star picked up his Oscar for a very different period piece – Oppenheimer.

Like the novella, Small Things Like These takes place over Christmas in 1985, when devoted father and coal merchant Bill Furlong, played by Murphy, discovers startling secrets kept by the convent in his town, along with some shocking truths of his own.

The plot is inspired by the truth behind Ireland’s Magdalene laundries. These were asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996 which were supposed to reform “fallen young women.”

Netflix now lists a warning label on the title, that informs users it will be ‘leaving soon’. The streamer states that the last day to watch will be October 27, meaning at the time of writing, viewers have just a little over a week to catch it before it’s too late. It’s not yet known if it will became available on an alternative platform or service after this date.

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Despite the tough subject matter, the film received a positive response from viewers and critics alike, with Murphy often being singled out for his stellar acting performance. It holds a rare 94% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes with many fans backing up the reviews.

One person posted online: “A masterpiece. Every shot is a masterpiece. The soundtrack is a masterpiece. Every performance is a masterpiece. The casting is beyond perfect. If possible, it’s even better than Claire Keegan’s short story.”

While some admitted they struggled with the slower pace of the film, many have suggested it is a must watch. One person said: “A hard to swallow, but fantastically acted, written, and directed film putting religion and its mafia laden tendencies at the forefront. Cillian continues to be a star, with a support cast of epic proportions. Based on a true and very sad story.”

A fourth penned: “Totally absorbing yet disturbing film, brilliantly led by an understated master class of acting by Cillian Murphy. The sudden ending leaves you literally crying out for more. A modern day masterpiece.”

Someone else added: “Following a read of the perfectly written book, I had to watch the film when I heard that Cillian Murphy was the star. He and the rest of the cast bring this extraordinary story to lives. Is there nothing he cannot do! Well worth a watch, it’s poignant from start to finish.”

Small Things Like These is streaming on Netflix