In postwar rural England, Hilary Mantel grew up convinced that the most improbable of accomplishments, including "chivalry, horsemanship, and swordplay," were within her grasp. Once married, however, she acquired a persistent pain that led to destructive drugs and patronizing psychiatry, ending in an ineffective but irrevocable surgery. There would be no children; in herself she found instead one novel, and then another.
Hilary Mantel is the critically acclaimed author of eight novels, including "A Change of Climate" and "Eight Months on Ghazzah Street." She lives in England.
A "New York Times" Notable Book
In postwar rural England, Hilary Mantel grew up convinced that the most extraordinary feats were within her grasp. At nineteen, however, she acquired a persistent pain that led to destructive drugs and patronizing psychiatry, ending in an ineffective but irrevocable surgery. There would be no children; in herself she found instead one novel, and then another. This is a dazzling, wry, and visceral memoir that will bring new converts to Mantel's dark genius.
"Dazzling written . . . A highly unorthodox account of what is essentially unsayable about the inward uncharted life."--Joyce Carol Oates
"Mantel's angular wit is as unquenchable as her anger; the reading experience is reliably exhilarating because of the sheer excellence of the writing."--"The New York Times Book Review "
"Blazing insights and] poetic discourses that rattle the soul . . . Mantel doesn't simply hit close to home, she knocks at our closets and opens our doors."--"The Boston Globe"
"Mantel's talents are stronger than her misfortunes . . . This book comes] from the mind of a fine author, whose body has imposed its own terrible penances."--"The Washington Post"
"No book this year has given me more pleasure than Hilary Mantel's astonishing, ravishing memoir, "Giving Up the Ghost.""--Susan Sontag, "The Times Literary Supplement" Books of the Year, 2003
Industry Reviews
"Dazzlingly written...a highly unorthodox account of what is essentially unsayable about the inward uncharted life." --Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books"The matter is bitter, but Mantel's angular wit is as unquenchable as her anger; the reading experience is reliably exhilarating because of the sheer excellence of the writing." --New York Times Book Review"Blazing insights [and] poetic discourses that rattle the soul...Mantel doesn't simply hit close to home, she knocks at our closets and opens our doors." --The Boston Globe"Mantel's talents are stronger than her misfortunes...[this book comes] from the mind of a fine author, whose body has imposed its own terrible penances." --The Washington Post"Giving Up the Ghost combines the urgency and observation that steer a memoir into the heart of a reader's own experience. I have been touched and also enthralled by this fine book." --Carol Shields, author of The Stone Diaries and Unless"A stunning evocation of an ill-fitting childhood and a womanhood blighted by medical ineptitude. Hilary Mantel's frank and beautiful memoir is impossible to put down and impossible to forget." --Clare Boylan, author of Beloved Stranger Dazzlingly written...a highly unorthodox account of what is essentially unsayable about the inward uncharted life. Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books The matter is bitter, but Mantel's angular wit is as unquenchable as her anger; the reading experience is reliably exhilarating because of the sheer excellence of the writing. New York Times Book Review Blazing insights [and] poetic discourses that rattle the soul...Mantel doesn't simply hit close to home, she knocks at our closets and opens our doors. The Boston Globe Mantel's talents are stronger than her misfortunes...[this book comes] from the mind of a fine author, whose body has imposed its own terrible penances. The Washington Post" Dazzlingly written...a highly unorthodox account of what is essentially unsayable about the inward uncharted life. "Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books" The matter is bitter, but Mantel's angular wit is as unquenchable as her anger; the reading experience is reliably exhilarating because of the sheer excellence of the writing. "New York Times Book Review" Blazing insights [and] poetic discourses that rattle the soul...Mantel doesn't simply hit close to home, she knocks at our closets and opens our doors. "The Boston Globe" Mantel's talents are stronger than her misfortunes...[this book comes] from the mind of a fine author, whose body has imposed its own terrible penances. "The Washington Post"" "Dazzlingly written...a highly unorthodox account of what is essentially unsayable about the inward uncharted life."--Joyce Carol Oates, "The New York Review of Books""The matter is bitter, but Mantel's angular wit is as unquenchable as her anger; the reading experience is reliably exhilarating because of the sheer excellence of the writing."--"New York Times Book Review""Blazing insights [and] poetic discourses that rattle the soul...Mantel doesn't simply hit close to home, she knocks at our closets and opens our doors."--"The Boston Globe""Mantel's talents are stronger than her misfortunes...[this book comes] from the mind of a fine author, whose body has imposed its own terrible penances."--"The Washington Post"
