Hilary Mantel – a triumph of mind over matter

Hilary Mantel, the only British author to win the Booker prize twice for her Thomas Cromwell trilogy has died.  She was extraordinarily prolific by any standards but more so because of the ill-health that plagued her throughout her life.   She was born 6 July 1952, sadly no birth time, and had a fractured childhood with her mother’s lover, Jack Mantel, moving in with the family when she was seven. He shared a bedroom with her mother while her father moved to another room. Th