DHAKA: Australian author Richard Flanagan has won the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for his wartime novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

"It's a remarkable love story as well as story about human suffering and comradeship," said AC Grayling, chair of the judges, reports BBC.

Flanagan's novel is set during the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death Railway in World War Two.

It was announced as the winner on Tuesday night at London's Guildhall.

This was the first year that the Man Booker prize had been open to all authors writing in English, regardless of nationality. Some writers had expressed fears that the change in the rules could lead to dominance by US authors.

Flanagan, 53, was presented with his prize by The Duchess of Cornwall.

BDST: 1127 HRS, OCT 15, 2014