A dense, occasionally impressionistic and highly symbolic look at the life of a wealthy industrialist, Mehring, who buys a farm in Apartheid-era South Africa as a tax write-off. He's the "Conservationist" of the title, telling himself that he's conserving nature via his lifestyle choice while actually conserving the foundations of Apartheid.

An academic, Edwin Fisher, spends a week at the seaside while coming to terms with the breakdown of his marriage soon after the death of their son. While Fisher deals with the unexpected intervention of his in-laws on his holiday and hangs out in pubs with his fellow boarding house guests, his backstory unfolds via flashback.

J.G. Farrell's first "standard" Booker winner is the second part in his "Empire" trilogy, this time jumping back to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 for a by turns hilarious and meditative look at a pivotal (if not decisive) moment in British Colonial history, told via a graphic evocation of a four month siege of a British garrison by the uprising sepoys.

The eponymous "G" shags his way around early 20th century Europe, while largely ignoring various major events happening around him.

A road trip through "Africa" featuring two fairly awful Brits, a colonial official and his colleague's wife. The backdrop is a violent coup by the president to unseat the King, the latter the preference of the colonists.

It's 1919 and Major Brendan Archer, soon after returning from the Trenches, heads over to Ireland to meet a woman he seems to be engaged to, despite not being entirely sure whether he is or not.

A previously successful fortysomething Jewish barrister is committed after an amphetamine addiction causes him to see silverfish everywhere.

P. H. Newby’s Something to Answer For was the first winner of the Booker Prize.