Hilary Mantel, Bring Up The Bodies: The book is the second in Mantel's trilogy on Thomas Cromwell. Her first, the best-seller Wolf Hall, won the Man Booker in 2009. Judges said that she had shown "even greater mastery of method, powerful realism, and the separation of past and present and the vivid depiction of English character and landscape".
Will Self, Umbrella: Umbrella is set across an entire century and follows a misdiagnosed woman in a north London mental hospital, her family and her doctor. Judges said that the novel, which has no chapters and few paragraph breaks, was both "moving and draining". Novelist and journalist Self, 50, was favourite to win.
Tan Twan Eng, The Garden Of Evening Mists: The Garden Of Evening Mists follows a young law graduate who seeks solace among the plantations of the Cameron Highlands during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia. The writer, 38, who was born in Malaysia. Judges said they had likened the book's beauty "to that of slowly crashing icebergs".
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis: The book is the first novel by 53-year-old Indian writer Thayil, who is a performance poet, songwriter and guitarist. Judges said of the book, which is said to capture the Bombay of the 1970s in all its compelling squalor, "poetry is not often the stepping stone of the novel, but we very much admire this perfume prose."
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home: Set in a summer villa, Swimming Home is Levy's, 53, first novel in a decade. Traditional publishers turned down the novel and it only hit the bookshelves following the help of supporters. The novel, set on the French Riviera over a single week, examines the effect depression can have on apparently stable people. Judges praised the "technical artistry, glowing prose" and "intimate exposure of loss" in the novel.