There were a number of surprises in the Booker Prize short list announced mid-September in which the hot favourite The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead was eliminated as well as novels by Arundhati Roy and Zadie Smith. After whittling the long list from 13 to 6 on the short list in mid-September, the odds-on betting favourite at Ladbrokes was George Saunders – Lincoln in the Bardo at 2/1.
Lincoln in the Bardo remains the favourite to win the Man Booker prize this year and with the announcement of the winner barely a week away on 17 October, the odds have improved slightly from 2/1 to 6/4. There are no changes in the odds on Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West and Fiona Mozeley’s Elmet at 4/1, while the rest of the field is starting to fade. Paul Auster’s 4321 that was a 5/1 shot in September has faded to 6/1. The odds on Ali Smith’s Autumn winning remain at 6/1 while the odds on Emily Fridlund’s History of Wolves have gone from 6/1 to 8/1.
