The British novelist, Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, passed away on September 22, 2022. Mantel was regarded as one of the greatest English-language novelists of this century, winning the Booker Prize twice—one for Wolf Hall in 2009 and the other for its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies in 2012, both belonging to the Cromwell trilogy. The Mirror and the Light, which was the conclusion to the trilogy, was published in 2020 and was also nominated for the Booker Prize, but did not win the prize. To this day, more than five million copies of the Wolf Hall trilogy have been sold worldwide, and the novels have been translated into 41 languages. Wolf’s Hall presents a fictional account of the Earl of Essex, Thomas Cromwell’s, rise to power in the court of Henry VIII after the death of Saint Thomas More.
Career
Mantel was a British writer born in Derbyshire, England, on July 6, 1952. She attended Harrytown Convent School, Cheshire in England; studied law at the London School of Economics and Sheffield University; and went on to become a social work assistant in a geriatric hospital. Mantel suffered from chronic health problems for much of her life. She was initially diagnosed with a psychiatric illness, hospitalised, and treated with antipsychotic drugs, which reportedly produced psychotic symptoms. She was later diagnosed with endometriosis, and had to bear with debilitating pain and fatigue because of that. Mantel married the geologist, Gerald McEwan, in 1972. The couple divorced in 1981 but later remarried in 1982.
Her Works
Mantel began her writing in 1974. She wrote a novel about the French Revolution, named A Place of Greater Safety. However, she was unable to find a publisher and it was eventually published in 1992. Mantel’s first novel Every Day is Mother’s Day was published in 1985 which was inspired in part by her own experiences as social work assistant. Its sequel Vacant Possession was published in 1986. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street is the story of an English woman who moves to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to live with her husband. Her other literary works include, Fludd, A Place of Greater Safety, A Change of Climate, An Experiment in Love, The Giant, O’Brien, and Beyond Black, among others. Apart from her 12 novels, Mantel has also authored two collections of short stories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.
Wolf Hall, the first of the Cromwell trilogy, is a sympathetic fictionalised biography, set in the period from 1500 to 1535. The second sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, is about the fall of Thomas Cromwell, and Mirror and the Light is the third sequel which covers the last four years of Cromwell’s life.
Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were adapted for a Royal Shakespeare Company stage production in 2013, and were turned into a six-part BBC Television series. In 2021, The Mirror and the Light was staged in London’s Gielgud Theatre.
Achievements
In 1990, Mantel was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was the recipient of the prestigious Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours, and also, the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours, for services to literature. She also won the Walter Scott Prize in 2010 and 2021. She was also awarded the Costa Novel Prize in 2012. In 2016, she received the British Academy President’s Medal, among many other honours and awards. Apart from Booker’s Prize, Wolf Hall also won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
© Spectrum Books Pvt Ltd.