Author Hilary Mantel has won teh Man Booker Prize for Wolf Hall, a tale of Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power in the court of Henry VIII
2009-10-07
The judges were split between Mantel and a rival author, whose identity they did not disclose. In the end, a secret ballot came out 3-2 in favour of Wolf Hall. The other shortlisted writers were JM Coetzee and AS Byatt, both former Booker winners, alongside Sarah Waters, Simon Mawer and Adam Foulds.
Wearing a gold outfit, Mantel said: "I hesitated for such a long time before beginning to write this book, actually for about 20 years."
Mantel joked that she would spend her prize money on "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll".
A flurry of bets on Mantel in the weeks leading up to the announcement led William Hill to cut her odds from 16/1 to 10/11, fearing a sting. However, Naughtie said he believed booklovers simply recognised good odds and thought Mantel was worth a punt.
When it comes to the Booker, the favourites rarely win. The last to do so was Yann Martel’s Life of Pi in 2002, which went on to sell over one million copies in the UK alone.
So far, Wolf Hall has sold 48,000 copies, an impressive number for a hardback historical novel. Naughtie conceded that it was not an easy read. “It is a challenging book. The narrative technique is innovative, the scope of it is vast. It’s a book that demands hard work, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Good things are worth working at.”
Wolf Hall is Mantel’s 11th work of fiction and her first to reach the Booker shortlist. The 57-year-old author, a former social worker, had professed herself “heartened, delighted, encouraged, strengthened and a little bemused” to be the favourite.
Mantel was announced as winner of the £50,000 prize at a ceremony held in the City of London’s Guildhall.
Mantel spent five years writing the book and her win will deliver a significant sales boost. Mantel is now working on a sequel to Wolf Hall, called The Mirror & The Light, which will chronicle Cromwell's later years and end with his execution in 1540.
