Two-time Booker Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel has died aged 70.
The celebrated author of the Wolf Hall trilogy died “suddenly yet peacefully” surrounded by family and friends on Thursday.
In a social media post, her publisher Harper Collins said: “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.
“This is a devastating loss and we can only be grateful she left us with such a magnificent body of work.”
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. This is a devastating loss and we can only be grateful she left us with such a magnificent body of work. pic.twitter.com/VMXBMMatka
— HarperCollinsUK (@HarperCollinsUK) September 23, 2022
Mantel is regarded as one of the best English novelists of the 21st century – and was twice awarded the Booker prize.
She was honoured for Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring up the Bodies.
The third novel in the series The Mirror & the Light also enjoyed great critical acclaim when it was published in 2020.
Mantel also hit the headlines in both Ireland and Britain when she announced plans to become an Irish citizen last year.
She said she was “ashamed” of the UK Government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and wanted to become a European again.
