British novelist Hilary Mantel made history by becoming the first
woman and first British author to become a two-time winner of the
prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for her book 'Bring up the
Bodies'.
She first won the prize in 2009 for the novel Wolf Hall.
60-year-old Mantel's best-selling novel, Bring Up The Bodies,
beat five other shortlisted titles including Will Self's Umbrella, which
was the bookmakers' favourite.
Others in the contest were India's Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis), Tan
Twan Eng (The Garden of Evening Mists), Deborah Levy (Swimming Home),
and Alison Moore (The Lighthouse).
Only two writers Australian author Peter Carey, who won in 1988
and 2001, and the South African J M Coetzee in 1983 and 1999, have
achieved this feat.
Bring Up The Bodies chronicles the downfall of Anne Boleyn
through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII. The
judges said it "utterly surpassed" its predecessor, Wolf Hall.
Sir Peter Stothard, chairman of the judges, making the
announcement at the awards dinner at Guildhall, hailed Mantel as "the
greatest English prose writer" of modern times and praised her ability
to re-cast one of the most familiar episodes in British history.
"This is a bloody story of the death of Anne Boleyn but Hilary Mantel is a writer who thinks through the blood," he said.
Mantel described the process of writing this book as a gruelling
experience, saying: "I can't remember a time in my writing life when I
was so beaten up by a book."