Booker Prize Winner And Wolf Hall Trilogy Author Hilary Mantel Passes Away At 70

Mantel won the renowned Booker Prize twice: for Wolf Hall, the first book in the Thomas Cromwell series, in 2009, and Bring Up the Bodies, its sequel, in 2012.

The author of the best-selling Wolf Hall trilogy and the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice, Hilary Mantel, passed away on Friday at the age of 70, her publisher said. Her demise was announced in a tweet by HarperCollins UK. The cause of her death is unknown.

"We are heartbroken at the death of our beloved author, Dame Hilary Mantel and our thoughts are with her friends and family, especially her husband, Gerald," HarperCollins said in a statement. 

"This is a devastating loss and we can only be grateful she left us with such a magnificent body of work," it further said.

Mantel, who was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, on July 6, 1952, won the renowned Booker Prize twice: for Wolf Hall, the first book in the Thomas Cromwell series, in 2009, and Bring Up the Bodies, its sequel, in 2012.

Her trilogy's conclusion, The Mirror and the Light, was published in 2020 and received a lot of critical prais. It became a best-seller in fiction, and was nominated for the 2020 Booker Prize.

To date, The Wolf Hall trilogy has been translated into 41 languages with sales of over 5 million worldwide.

"Everyone at the Booker Prizes is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Hilary Mantel, four-time Booker Prize nominee and winner in 2009 and 2012. We send our sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues," The Booker Prizes said in a tweet.

Former 4th Estate Publishing Director Nicholas Pearson called the news of her passing "devastating".

"Hilary had a unique outlook on the world -- she picked it apart and revealed how it works in both her contemporary and historical novels -- every book an unforgettable weave of luminous sentences, unforgettable characters and remarkable insight. She seemed to know everything. For a long time she was critically admired, but The Wolf Hall Trilogy found her the vast readership she long deserved," Pearson said.

CEO HarperCollins Charlie Redmayne said Mantel was a "writer to the core" who had "huge empathy for her subjects".

"A writer to the core, Hilary was one of the greatest of her generation – a serious, fearless novelist with huge empathy for her subjects. Who else could have brought Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII and the huge cast of The Wolf Hall Trilogy to life with such insight, frailty and humanity but her? "We will all miss Hilary’s company, her wisdom, her humour, and treasure her incredible literary legacy – she will be read as long as people are still reading," Redmayne said.

(With inputs from PTI)