Irish author Paul Lynch clinched the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction on Sunday, securing the 50,000-pound award for his novel "Prophet Song."

The judges lauded the work as a "soul-shattering" exploration of a woman's struggle to safeguard her family amid Ireland's descent into totalitarianism and war.

The dystopian tale, set in a fictionalized version of Dublin, triumphed over five other finalists, chosen from a pool of 163 submissions. Lynch, 46, expressed that crafting the novel, an endeavor spanning four years, was a challenging yet necessary pursuit, emphasizing its theme of "radical empathy" aimed at immersing readers in the experience of a society in turmoil.

The author highlighted that the book is a counterfactual narrative, not a prophetic statement, and commented on the unrest in Dublin, stating, "this kind of energy is always there under the surface."

The judging panel, led by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, commended Lynch's work as a "triumph of emotional storytelling" with language feats that are "stunning to witness."

The decision to award "Prophet Song" wasn't unanimous, but Edugyan emphasized that it was deemed a masterful work of fiction during the six-hour deliberation.

Lynch, who considers the novel a reflection on timeless societal challenges, acknowledged the need to deepen responses to such issues. The Booker Prize, founded in 1969, is open to English-language novels from any country published in the U.K. and Ireland, known for transforming writers' careers.

Lynch, astonished and pleased by the win, plans to use the prize money to manage payments on his tracker mortgage. The ceremony, held at Old Billingsgate in central London, also featured a speech from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman formerly jailed in Tehran, who highlighted the role of books in providing solace during her imprisonment.