Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel (1952–2022) was one of the most acclaimed English novelists of her generation. She won the Booker Prize twice—for Wolf Hall (2009) and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies (2012)—a feat achieved by only a few authors. The trilogy, completed with The Mirror & the Light (2020), reimagines the life of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII, blending rigorous historical detail with vivid psychological insight. Mantel also wrote earlier novels such as A Place of Greater Safety (about the French Revolution) and the darkly comic Beyond Black. Her memoir Giving Up the Ghost (2003) explores her own life and chronic illness. Mantel’s literary legacy lies in her transformative approach to historical fiction, making the past feel immediate and morally complex. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014.