Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel was born in northern Derbyshire in 1952. She was educated at a convent school in Cheshire and went on to the LSE and Sheffield University, where she studied law. After university she was briefly a social worker in a geriatric hospital, and much later used her experiences in her novels Every Day is Mother's Day and Vacant Possession. In 1977 she went to live in Botswana with her husband, then a geologist. In 1982 they moved on to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where she would set her third novel, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street.

Her first novel was published in 1985, and she returned to the UK the following year. In 1987 she was awarded the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for travel writing, and became the film critic of the Spectator. Her fourth novel, Fludd, was awarded the Cheltenham Festival Prize, the Southern Arts Literature Prize, and the Winifred Holtby Prize. Her fifth novel, A Place of Greater Safety, won the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award.

A Change of Climate, published in 1993, is the story of an East Anglian family, former missionaries, torn apart by conflicts generated in Southern Africa in the early years of Apartheid. An Experiment in Love published in 1995, is a story about childhood and university life, set in London in 1970. It was awarded the Hawthornden Prize.

Beyond Black, published in 2005, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, while her most recent novel, Wolf Hall, won the 2009 Booker Prize.

Photograph © Jane Bown

If you like Hilary Mantel you might also like to read books by Julie Myerson, A M Homes and Rachel Cusk

Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel May 2012 MEGA Book of the Month. With her dazzling, utterly absorbing style of writing Bring Up the Bodies focuses on the downfall and destruction of the charismatic Anne Boleyn. This is the... Format: Hardback - Released: 10/05/2012 Lovereading Price: £15.00 - Saving £5.00 (25%)

Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel February 2012 Guest Editor Joanna Trollope on Hilary Mantel... I loved her writing, long before the mega success of Wolf Hall. She wrote the best novel (bad title – A Place of Greater Safety) I ever read about the French... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/03/2010 Lovereading Price: £7.49 - Saving £2.50 (25%)

Wolf Hall: Unabridged Audiobook Hilary Mantel This is an unabridged audiobook title. Winner of the inaugural Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction 2010. Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009. The subject of Henry VIII will always provide a rich source of historical, political and scandalous fodder... Format: CD-Audio - Released: 01/11/2009 Lovereading Price: £26.80 - Saving £8.94 (25%)

Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel Winner of the inaugural Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction 2010. Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009. Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2009. Costa Book Awards 2009 Judges' comment: "One of the outstanding books of the year - historical fiction at... Format: Hardback - Released: 30/04/2009 Lovereading Price: £14.24 - Saving £4.75 (25%)

Beyond Black Hilary Mantel This review is provided by bookgroup.info.As the title suggests, this is very dark indeed. A middle-aged psychic medium is in crisis. Tormented by cruel spirits from the other side, her life becomes intolerable. As the book... Format: Paperback (b Format) - Released: 03/10/2005 Lovereading Price: £6.74 - Saving £2.25 (25%)

Beyond Black Hilary Mantel We are very sorry but we have yet to review this book ourselves. However, as it has been selected for the Man Booker 2005 long list, we wanted to give you the opportunity to download an extract and let you... Format: Hardback - Released: 03/05/2005 Lovereading Price: £12.74 - Saving £4.25 (25%)