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The lottery of a global literary competition eluded New Zealand author Lloyd Jones - but he is still a winner.
Mister Pip was the bookies' pick to take out the Man Booker Awards but the literary world's most prestigious prize went to outsider Anne Enright for The Gathering.
The winner gets £50,000 ($137,000) and a profile no marketing budget can buy. But not winning has its compensations.
Jones said he was disappointed but not crushed because he could get back to writing and had been on a fabulous journey just being shortlisted for the Booker. And Mister Pip had been sold in 14 countries before the shortlisting and now it has been sold to 27.
Herald books editor Linda Herrick, in London for the event, said Jones arrived at a publisher's party to a huge amount of applause and a champagne toast, prompting him to announce: "They've changed their minds, I've won it!"
Then he said he was "actually quite rapt" it was over and he could get back to Berlin and get on with writing, said Herrick.
The prize was announced at London's historic Guildhall, where nominees and guests dined on a mushroom souffle with black truffle shavings, a beef dish and poached rhubarb in champagne.
Herrick said it was a real shock when Enright was handed the prize and Jones' support was "gobsmacked and gasping in dismay".
But she said Mister Pip had already been published in dozens of countries because of being shortlisted and also winning the Commonwealth Writers' prize. "So its sales have certainly rocketed along and I think it's a much bigger seller than The Gathering."
Penguin New Zealand publishing director Geoff Walker said Jones was now being talked about all over the world, and there was interest from foreign publishers in his previously published novels. Jones had moved into the front ranks of international fiction, he said.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said Jones "can take great pride in joining the ranks of finalists of one of the world's most celebrated awards".
"Lloyd Jones has a distinct voice and a unique perspective which are now recognised internationally," she said.
The Booker is open to authors from England, Ireland and Commonwealth countries. Keri Hulme is the only New Zealander to have won it.
Creative New Zealand chief executive Stephen Wainwright said making it to the shortlist was a fantastic achievement in itself. "Lloyd keeps producing fresh and original writing. He hasn't been afraid to take risks and it is great that he is now receiving international recognition for his work."
The other shortlisted authors were: Ian McEwan, for On Chesil Beach; Indra Sinha for Animal's People, Nicola Barker for Darkmans, and Mohsin Hamid for The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Enright's winning novel tells of the nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan who gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward, drink-fuelled brother Liam and relive a dark secret from his boyhood.
Judging panel chairman Howard Davies said it was a "powerful, uncomfortable and even at times angry book".
