So, in the literary world, “Queen” Hilary Mantel can do no wrong. Fresh from scooping the Man Booker Prize 2012, she becomes the first person to also win the Costa Award (formally the Whitbread award) in the same year! This is as well as winning the Man Booker for her first book in the Cromwell series, Wolf Hall. The prize, a cool £30,000 is in its 41st year and described as one which “rewards enjoyability” in comparison to its cleverer counterpart, the Booker.
The other prizewinners (winning £5,000 each) included:
Dotter of her Father’s Eyes – Mary and Bryan Talbot – a graphic novel which won the Biography section and I’m quite intrigued to read after seeing an interview with the couple on Channel 4.
The Innocents – Francesca Segal – First Novel
The Overhaul – Kathleen Jamie – Poetry
Maggot Moon – Sally Gardner – Children’s Book (on my TBR pile)
Previous winners of the Costa prize include Pure by Andrew Miller, The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, Small Island by Andrea Levy and the marvellous Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.
Now, I have to admit, I haven’t read Bring Up The Bodies yet. I didn’t really get on with Wolf Hall the first time I tried to read it but am preparing to give it another shot as Anne Boleyn is one of my favourite historical characters and I can’t bear to miss out on a re-telling of her antics. The BBC is due to dramatise both Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies this year, so I’ll definitely be looking out for that. Mantel is currently working on the third novel in the story of Cromwell’s rise and fall from grace – I seriously need to catch up!!
bibliobeth 