South African author Damon Galgut has won the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction at the third attempt for his novel The Promise.

Galgut, who was previously nominated in 2003 and 2010, picked up the £50,000 prize at a ceremony on Wednesday.

The Promise is his ninth novel and follows the decline of one South African family over four decades from the apartheid era to the present day.

The chair of the judges, Maya Jasanoff, described it as "a tour de force".

"It combines an extraordinary story, rich themes and the history of the last 40 years of South Africa in an incredibly well-wrought package," she said.

"It manages to pull together the qualities of great storytelling, it has great ideas, it's a book that has a lot to chew on, with remarkable attention to structure and literary style."

The title, The Promise, refers to a pledge that the white family's black maid would be given the house she inhabits and the land it stands on.