The Death of Dame Hilary Mantel

Former Knaphill resident and author Dame Hilary Mantel dies... I am sad to report the death of Dame Hilary Mantel in Exeter, Devon, on Thursday, 22 September, writes Mal Foster.

Aged 70, she was the acclaimed author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. The trilogy's final book, The Mirror & The Light, was published in 2020 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller.

Hilary Mantel, 6 July 1952 - 22 September 2022

Mantel had strong Woking connections, living with her husband, Gerald McEwan, in a penthouse at Florence House, which was once part of Brookwood Hospital in Knaphill. Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were written during her ten years at the iconic residence.

The couple later moved to Budleigh Salterton in Devon but would often return to the Woking area to visit friends when travelling to London and the home counties to appear at various functions and in the media.

Indeed, I last saw Hilary with Gerald in January 2019, in Sainsbury’s, Knaphill, just before the Covid 19 outbreak whilst they were on one of those visits. In earlier days, I had corresponded with Gerald, who had always taken an interest in our local community.

Florence House, Knaphill
where Mantel lived with her husband, Gerald

in the early 2000s

In 2014, Hilary famously brought about the attention of the police following the fictionalised account of the murder of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1983. The short story entitled, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher led Mantel to respond to allies of Thatcher by saying, ‘Bringing in the police for an investigation was beyond anything I could have planned or hoped for because it immediately exposes them to ridicule.’ And it did!

Mal Foster