Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel is a highly respected and celebrated English author, renowned for her literary and historical fiction novels. She was born on July 6, 1952, in Glossop, a market town in Derbyshire, England. Mantel pursued her education at the London School of Economics, where she studied law, before transferring to the University of Sheffield, where she earned her Bachelor of Jurisprudence degree.

After completing her education, Mantel lived in various countries, including Botswana and Saudi Arabia, with her geologist husband, Gerald McEwen. Upon returning to England, she became a film critic for The Spectator while writing her early novels. Mantel's impressive body of work includes personal memoirs, short stories, essays, and historical fiction. Some of her notable works are A Place of Greater Safety, Beyond Black, and the memoir Giving Up the Ghost.

Mantel gained significant recognition for her Thomas Cromwell/Wolf Hall Trilogy, which consists of the novels Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror & the Light. The first two books in the trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, were both awarded the prestigious Man Booker Prize, making Mantel the first woman to win the award twice. Additionally, Bring Up the Bodies also won the Costa Book Award.

Throughout her career, Mantel has received numerous accolades for her work, including the Walter Scott Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. Her writing has appeared in esteemed publications such as The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books. Mantel's ability to captivate readers with her storytelling and historical accuracy has solidified her position as one of Britain's most accomplished and acclaimed writers.