London:, May 24 -- October 16, 1997

The imposing chandeliered Guildhall full of literati, academicians and well-known faces from the publishing world broke into a polite applause as the five judges announced their unanimous decision awarding the 29th Booker prize (around £21,000), so far, the most prestigious literary award in Britain, to 37-year-old Arundhati Roy from New Delhi for her first novel The God of Small Things. The award to her did not cause any flutter in the hall as she was a hot favourite to win.

Bookmakers Ladbrokes refused to take any more bets soon after noon on the 9/4 rated writer while booksellers were unanimously saying that Ms. Roy would easily win . Her closest rivals to start with were Nick Jackson (The Und...