Dame Hilary Mantel, Author of Wolf Hall, Dies Aged 70

Dame Hilary Mantel, the British author best known for her Wolf Hall trilogy, has died aged 70.

The first woman to win the Booker prize twice, Mantel died "suddenly yet peacefully" yesterday surrounded by her close family and friends, according to a statement issued by publisher HarperCollins, which called her "one of the greatest English novelists of this century".

HarperCollins tweeted a tribute the the author.

Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up The Bodies were turned into a six-part TV series starring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, Damian Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn.

The Olivier and Tony Award-winning Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies stage plays were hailed as landmark events. In 2021, Playful Productions and the RSC brought The Mirror and the Light, the highly anticipated final chapter of the trilogy, to the Gielgud Theatre.

Nathaniel Parker returned to his Olivier Award winning performance as Henry VIII, with Ben Miles reprising his performance as the legendary Thomas Cromwell.

Dame Hilary wrote 17 books, including The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Vacant Possession and Every Day is Mother's Day, as well as the memoir Giving up the Ghost.

She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in In 1990 and was awarded a damehood in 2014 for services to literature.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski