Spicezee BureauLondon, October 15: Beating five other equally promising shortlisted books, novelist Hilary Mantel's gripping 16th century tale titled `Wolf Hall’ has claimed the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for 2009.
Mantel, 57, received 50,000 pounds as prize money last night amidst much cheer from littérateurs.
The six shortlisted books for the prestigious award were Hilary Mantel's ‘Wolf Hall’, AS Byatt's ‘The Children’s Book’, JM Coetzee's ‘Summertime’, Adam Fould's ‘The Quickening Maze’, Simon Mawer's ‘The Glass Room’ and Sarah Waters' ‘The Little Stranger’. Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’ had been the favourite of bookies this year and in contrary to the opinion that the safe bet in Booker hardly wins, the author walked away with the prize.
Ion Trewin, literary director of the Booker Prizes, said the last time a favourite walked off with the prize was Yann Martel`s `Life of Pi` in 2002.
Indian writers such as Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Aravind Adiga and Arundhati Roy have previously won the prize but this year`s shortlist did not feature any Indian. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, first awarded in 1969, promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year.
Wolf Hall`Wolf Hall` is set in the 1520s and tells the story of Thomas Cromwell`s rise to prominence in the Tudor court. A work of historical fiction, the book opens with Cromwell as victim of his violent father and picks up his story when he is in the service of Cardinal Wolsey. He rises through the ranks to become one of King Henry VIII`s most trusted aides, helping the monarch in his attempts to break with the papacy in Rome. A sequel is reportedly in the works, taking the reader to the grisly end of Cromwell`s life. He was executed in 1540.
The making of ‘Wolf Hall’Accepting the award at The Guildhall, Mantel said that if winning the Booker Prize was like being in a train crash "at this moment I am happily flying through the air".
She told the audience that it had taken her about 20 years to decide whether to write this particular book.
She said: "I couldn`t begin until I felt secure enough to say to my publisher - just what a publisher always wants to hear - `this will take me several years you know`. But they
took it on the chin."
Mantel added: "When I began the book I knew I had to do something very difficult, I had to interest the historians, I had to amuse the jaded palate of the critical establishment and most of all I had to capture the imagination of the general reader."
Chairman of judges James Naughtie said: "Our decision was based on the sheer bigness of the book. The boldness of its narrative, its scene setting. The extraordinary way that Hilary Mantel has created what one of the judges has said was a contemporary novel, a modern novel, which happens to be set in the 16th Century. We thought it was an extraordinary piece of story-telling."
First Published: Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 14:13
