Irish writer John Banville holds aloft his novel "The Sea" after winning the 2005 Man Booker prize at the Guildhall in London October 10, 2005. Banville was the surprise winner on Monday of the Booker Prize, one of the literary world's most prestigious awards, for "The Sea", his poignant and dark novel about childhood memories. The 50,000 pound ($88,000) prize rewards the best novel of the last year by a British, Irish or Commonwealth writer.