Hilary Mantel has died

[HelloAvocado]

What terrible news. Rest in peace.

Really sad about this, I have A Place of Greater Safety sitting on my Kindle, will start it today.

I live in the town where she was born but she was raised in the next village, she was always rather scathing about it but I hope she will be honoured in some way

She was a fabulous writer. Really sad to read this.

Oh no.

I still haven't read The Mirror and the Light - despite adoring WH and BUtB - because I can't bear to see Cromwell fall. Even the increasing flashes of hubris in BUtB I found genuinely distressing. That's how vivid she made Cromwell for me.

Rest in peace, Hillary.

I must admit I've not read Wolf Hall. I tried and gave up. I now feel inspired to try again.

I did however see the stage version of The Mirror and the Light last year. Hilary Mantel was there watching. It was absolutely tremendous. Such a sad loss to literature, even sadder for her family and friends.

A loss to the literary world.

She was eccentric and slightly bonkers in a gentle, wonderful way.

Very sad.

Such news 😢

I restarted Bringing Up the Bodies yesterday to remind myself before finally readingThe Mirror and the Light.

A beautiful writer. And funny - I had forgotten how exquisite her turn of phrase could be, the rhythm of a sentence that catches you by surprise with its sharp little dig at the end.

Heartily second that. When I finished Wolf Hall for the first time for a moment i had the unnerving feeling of actually being in Cromwell's head and looking through his eyes. One of the books I started reading again the minute I finished it.

I'm really sad about this. I read A Place of Greater Safety when pregnant with DS and he narrowly escaped being named Maximilien.

She was an extraordinary writer.

I actually felt sorry for Robespierre after finishing that and any writer who can pull that off is of very high calibre.

I love the Wolf Hall trilogy but my favourite of her novels is Fludd, like a slightly darker Barbara Pym.

I'm thinking now of all the potential novels we've been deprived of.

Such a great loss. Incredible writer. May she RIP.

Gosh. That's awful. A huge talent.RIP.

Yes, looked at cold, Thomas Cromwell isn't exactly a sympathetic figure but she made you so bound up with his fortunes.

Me too! I absolutely loved the books and they had a massive impact on me.

RIP Hilary. Really sad news.

So sad, she was an incredible writer and a wonderful human being.

Just re-read the Wolf Hall Trilogy which improves on each reading. I hope she meets Cromwell and Wolsey up there.

A Place of Greater Safety is also a fantastic book, equally heart breaking. Agree with pp, she made me feel sorry for Robespierre too and that really is something.

My username is actually inspired by APOGS

Damn. I loved the trilogy. RIP Hilary.

A Place Of Greater Safety was my favourite.

So sad to hear this
What a huge talent

70 is no age at all. I had always imagined her writing into her nineties - such a huge talent.

Came here specifically to see if there was a thread about this, as I just wanted to say "I am so sad" to people who might get it!

That feeling that you’re inside Cromwell’s head is so unnerving. I think it’s partly her writing in the present tense.

Cannot add to the accolades here. She was a one-off. Will be missed massively.

Oh no! What sad news.

We've all been cheated with this. Her family and friends who will lose a really extraordinary person and us readers who don't get to read any more of her books.

Really sad. She seemed such a nice lady as well. The Cromwell trilogy definitely deserves a place in the canon (assuming the left don’t destroy the canon, of course). Sublime writer. One of the best British novelists of the 21st century.

So sad to hear this. I met her when my a level English teacher invited her into school to read to us in about 1995. I was very lucky. I very much enjoyed her novels. The wolf Hall trilogy is one of my favourite works of literature.