Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mary Thompson was born on the 6th of July 1952 in Glossop, Derbyshire. She grew up as a Roman Catholic in the mill village of Hadfield. Her parents were both Catholics of Irish descent who worked in England. When she was seven years old, her mother's lover named Jack Mantel moved into their home. He shared a bedroom with her mother while her father moved to another room. Four years later, when she was eleven, the family relocated to Romiley in Cheshire. They left her father behind and never saw him again. Jack Mantel became her unofficial stepfather and she legally took his surname. This early separation from her biological father shaped her understanding of family dynamics for decades.
During her twenties, Hilary suffered from a debilitating and painful illness that doctors could not identify. They initially diagnosed it as a psychiatric condition and treated her with antipsychotic drugs. These medications reportedly produced psychotic symptoms in her body. As a consequence, she refrained from seeking help from doctors for some years. Finally, in Botswana and desperate, she consulted a medical textbook herself. She realized she was probably suffering from a severe form of endometriosis. Doctors in London confirmed this diagnosis shortly after. The condition required surgical menopause at the age of 27. This procedure left her unable to have children and continued to disrupt her life. She later said that you had to find a way of living with pain and living around it. This trauma led her to see the problematised woman's body as a central theme in her writing.
In 1977, Hilary moved with her husband Gerald McEwen to Botswana. They lived there for the next five years before moving on. Later, they spent four years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She later said that leaving Jeddah felt like the happiest day of her life. Her time abroad informed early novels like Eight Months on Ghazzah Street published in 1988. This book drew directly on her life experiences in Saudi Arabia. It features a threatening clash of values between neighbours in a city apartment block. The story explores tensions between Islamic culture and the liberal West. These global experiences provided rich material for her first major works outside England.
Her long novel Wolf Hall about Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell was published in 2009. It received critical acclaim from reviewers across the country. The book won that year's Booker Prize during an evening ceremony at the Guildhall in London. Mantel was presented with a trophy and a fifty thousand pound cash prize. Judges described Wolf Hall as an extraordinary piece of storytelling. The sequel called Bring Up the Bodies was published in May 2012 to wide acclaim. It won both the Costa Book of the Year and the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Mantel became the first British writer and the first woman to win the Booker Prize more than once. The trilogy has gone on to sell more than five million copies worldwide. The third installment, The Mirror & the Light, was selected for the longlist for the 2020 Booker Prize.
In September 2014, Mantel said she had fantasised about the murder of the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1983. She fictionalized this event in a short story titled The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: the 6th of August 1983. Allies of Thatcher called for a police investigation into her remarks. Mantel responded that bringing in the police was beyond anything she could have planned or hoped for. In a speech at the British Museum in 2013, she commented on Catherine Middleton then the Duchess of Cambridge. She stated that Middleton was forced to present herself publicly as a personality-free shop window mannequin. These remarks stimulated substantial public debate among political leaders and citizens. Prime Minister David Cameron and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband both criticized her comments while others defended them.
Mantel received numerous awards throughout her career including the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to literature. Her memoir Giving Up the Ghost won the MIND Book of the Year award in 2003. She also received honorary degrees from institutions like Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Oxford. At the time of her death on the 22nd of September 2022, she was working on a new novel characterized as a mash-up of Jane Austen novels. Her final work A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing appeared posthumously in 2023. Mantel died aged 70 at a hospital in Exeter from complications of a stroke that occurred three days earlier.
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Common questions
When was Hilary Mantel born and where did she grow up?
Hilary Mary Thompson was born on the 6th of July 1952 in Glossop, Derbyshire. She grew up as a Roman Catholic in the mill village of Hadfield.
What medical condition caused Hilary Mantel to undergo surgical menopause at age 27?
Doctors confirmed that Hilary Mantel suffered from a severe form of endometriosis which required surgical menopause at the age of 27. This procedure left her unable to have children and continued to disrupt her life for decades.
Which novel won Hilary Mantel the Booker Prize in 2009 and what prize money did it include?
Wolf Hall about Henry VIII's minister Thomas Cromwell won the Booker Prize during an evening ceremony at the Guildhall in London. Mantel received a trophy and a fifty thousand pound cash prize for this extraordinary piece of storytelling.
Why did Hilary Mantel move to Botswana with her husband Gerald McEwen in 1977?
Hilary Mantel moved with her husband Gerald McEwen to Botswana in 1977 where they lived for five years before moving on. Her time abroad informed early novels like Eight Months on Ghazzah Street published in 1988.
What happened after Hilary Mantel fantasized about the murder of Margaret Thatcher in 1983?
Allies of Margaret Thatcher called for a police investigation into her remarks regarding The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: the 6th of August 1983. Prime Minister David Cameron and Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband both criticized her comments while others defended them.
When did Hilary Mantel die and what was she working on at the time of her death?
Mantel died aged 70 at a hospital in Exeter from complications of a stroke that occurred three days earlier on the 22nd of September 2022. At the time of her death she was working on a new novel characterized as a mash-up of Jane Austen novels.