literature
Historical fiction as a specialty: Hilary Mantel is dead
British Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel has died. photo
© Yui Mok/PA Wire/dpa
The award-winning British author Hilary Mantel has become world famous with historical novels. Now she is dead.
With historical novels, she has become one of the most important British authors of the present: The British writer Hilary Mantel is dead. According to her publisher, the British news agency PA announced on Friday that Mantel died “suddenly but peacefully” surrounded by her family. She was 70 years old.
“Our thoughts are with her friends and family, especially her husband Gerald. This is a devastating loss and we can only be grateful that she left us such a magnificent work,” said HarperCollins’ Facebook page. Mantel died on Thursday.
The award-winning author, critic and lawyer became world famous with historical novels. In 2009 she was awarded the Booker Prize, the most important British literary prize, for her novel “Wolves”. Mantel won the prize again in 2012 with the follow-up novel “Falcon”. Both are historical novels about 16th-century England. A third book completed the trilogy. HarperCollins recognized Mantel as “one of the greatest English novelists of this century. Her admired works are regarded as modern classics.”
Mantel was born in Glossop, England, in 1952. After studying law in London, she initially worked as a social worker. Her debut novel Every Day is Mother’s Day (Dumont) was published in 1985. Her first historical novel A Place of Greater Safety (1992) is narrated the lives of the three revolutionaries Danton, Robespierre and Desmoulins before and after the French Revolution.
Royal House Award
She received much praise from critics, but she only had commercial success with her novel “Wolves”. The book takes place in the period in which England broke away from the Catholic Church under King Henry VIII (1509-1547). The story is told from the perspective of Lord Chancellor Thomas Cromwell. According to The Guardian, the Wolves trilogy has sold more than five million copies worldwide and has been translated into 41 languages.
In 2014 she was knighted by the British royal family and was allowed to call herself “lady” – the female counterpart of “sir”.
Mantel suffered from chronic endometriosis, a gynecological disease, throughout his life. The Financial Times published an interview with her in early September. At the time, when asked how fit she was, she said: “My health is unpredictable and a daily source of tension (…)”.
When asked if she believed in life after death, she replied “yes”. Mantel added that while she couldn’t imagine how this would work, the universe isn’t limited by her imagination.