Mantel, Hilary (1952-2022), was the first British author to win the Man Booker Prize twice. The Man Booker Prize, now called the Booker Prize, is the United Kingdom’s best-known literary award. Mantel won the 2009 prize for Wolf Hall (2009), and the 2012 prize for Bring Up the Bodies (2012). They are the first two books in a trilogy (three related novels) that explores the life of Thomas Cromwell, who became a powerful adviser to King Henry VIII of England in the 1530’s. The third book is The Mirror & the Light (2020). Critics have praised Mantel for her storytelling power and for her convincing re-creation of Cromwell’s time.
Mantel gained recognition with her first novel, Every Day Is Mother’s Day (1985). The partly autobiographical novel deals with an English social worker assigned the case of a girl named Muriel. Muriel has intellectual disabilities and lives with her emotionally disturbed mother. A sequel, Vacant Possession (1986), follows Muriel as an adult. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1988) draws on Mantel’s experiences living in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. It explores the clash of values between European society and Islam.
Mantel’s historical novel The Giant, O’Brien (1998) concerns an Irishman in London in the 1780’s. The novel’s main character, Charles O’Brien, tries to take advantage of his great height through a career of exhibiting himself as a freak. Beyond Black (2005) centers on a professional medium (person who claims to possess the power to communicate with the dead). Mantel’s other novels include Fludd (1989), A Place of Greater Safety (1992), A Change of Climate (1994), and An Experiment in Love (1995). Her short stories were collected in Learning to Talk (2003) and The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher (2014). She wrote a memoir, Giving Up the Ghost (2003).
Mantel was the motion-picture critic for The Spectator magazine from 1987 to 1991. She also wrote essays and reviews for various publications in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Hilary Mary Mantel was born on July 6, 1952, in Glossop, Derbyshire. She studied law at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1970. She received a law degree from the University of Sheffield in 1973.
In 1972, Mantel married Gerald McEwen, a British geologist. Because of McEwen’s work, the couple lived in Botswana from 1977 to 1982 and in Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 1986. In 2006, Queen Elizabeth II made Mantel a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Mantel died on Sept. 22, 2022.
