John Harrison’s The End of Everything wins Booker Prize for genre-defying fiction
An invasion reaches the coast
The novel’s imagined war pits humans against the iGhetti, alien entities that have entered reality from an astral plane. In Britain, they gather around London’s Square Mile, while unusual artefacts and places where reality falters appear elsewhere.
Phillip Tennent finds one such artefact washed up on the Kent coast. As it begins to imitate human behaviour and appearance, he and his ageing, forgetful aunt Marnie embark on an uncanny road trip through southeast England.
Form carries the story
The novel’s fragmented style is central to its effect, with its structure carrying weight alongside the prose. A disruptive event near the end divides the book and opens a second part focused on loss and a movement toward acceptance.
Harrison has expressed skepticism about plot-driven storytelling. In his 2023 book Wish I Was Here, he wrote, “story is fine, but plot is like chemical farming”.
A career beyond genre
His work includes the Viriconium stories, beginning with The Pastel City, and draws on varied writers, among them Arthur Machen, the Strugatsky brothers, Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Mansfield. Harrison has called his own writing “weird” and described the new weird as a mix of horror, science fiction and fantasy.
Key points
- M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything won the 2026 Booker Prize.
- The novel follows Phillip Tennent and his aunt Marnie after he finds an alien artefact.
- Harrison’s fragmented form and genre-crossing style shape the book.
- His career spans speculative fiction, realism, occult writing and experimental stories.