British author Hilary Mantel, best known for her Wolf Hall trilogy, passed away at the age of 70.
British newspaper The Telegraph reported that she died “suddenly but peacefully”.
Publishing giant HarperCollins said that “bestselling author Dame Hilary Mantel DBE passed away suddenly but peacefully yesterday, surrounded by close family and friends, at the age of 70.” It added: “Hilary Mantel was one of the greatest English novelists of this century and her beloved works are considered modern classics. She will be greatly missed.” DBE stands for “Damehood of the Order of the British Empire”.
Mantel made a name for himself with historical fiction, short stories and memoirs. Hair Wolf Hall trilogy is a fictional account of Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power at the court of King Henry VIII as Prime Minister.
Mantel twice won the Booker Prize, the first time for a 2009 novel Wolf Hallfollowed by her 2012 novel Raise the bodies, the second part of the trilogy. Mantel became the first woman and fourth person to receive the award twice. The others are JM Coetzee, Peter Carey and JG Farrell.
In 2020 Mantel published the third novel in the series, The mirror and the light, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The trilogy has been translated into 41 languages with sales of over 5 million worldwide. The books have been adapted for the stage and for the BBC into a six-part series starring Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, which aired on PBS in the US
In 2013, the novelist wrote made headlines when she called Kate Middleton a “joint doll from which certain rags are hung,” whose main purpose is seen as providing an heir to the throne.
Mantel was born in Glossop, England on July 6, 1952 and studied law at the London School of Economics and Sheffield University. She worked as a social worker and lived in Botswana for five years and then in Saudi Arabia for four years. In the mid-1980s, Mantel returned to Britain.