Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning author of the acclaimed “Wolf Hall” saga, has died. She was 70. HilaryMantel
Hilary Mantel, the dual Booker Prize-winning author of the acclaimed “Wolf Hall” saga, has died. She was 70.Her publisher HarperCollins said Mantel died “suddenly yet peacefully” surrounded by close family and friends.Hilary Mantel, the dual Booker Prize-winning author of the acclaimed “Wolf Hall” saga, has died. She was 70.
Mantel turned Cromwell, a shadowy political fixer, into a compelling, complex literary hero. Cromwell was an architect of the Reformation who helped the king realise his desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. The Vatican’s refusal to annul Henry’s first marriage led the monarch to reject the authority of the pope and install himself as head of the Church of England.
Her agent at literary agency AM Heath, Bill Hamilton, said Mantel, who spoke of suffering long-term pain and fatigue caused by endometriosis, had dealt “courageously” with chronic health problems. Before “Wolf Hall,” Mantel was the critically acclaimed but modestly selling author of novels on subjects ranging from the French Revolution to the life of a psychic medium .
Mantel also lived in Saudi Arabia for four years, returning to Britain in the mid-1980s. Her first novel, “Every Day is Mother’s Day”, was published in 1985. In total, she wrote 17 books, including non-fiction work.