'Wolf Hall' wins Britain's Booker prize

Last update: October 6, 2009 - 5:36 PM

LONDON - A tale of political intrigue set during the reign of King Henry VIII won the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction Tuesday.

Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" scooped the 50,000-pound ($80,000) prize. Mantel's novel charts the upheaval caused by the king's desire to marry Anne Boleyn, as seen through the eyes of royal adviser Thomas Cromwell.

Mantel's novel beat stiff competition from the shortlist: A.S. Byatt's "The Children's Book," J.M. Coetzee's "Summertime," Adam Foulds' "The Quickening Maze," Simon Mawer's "The Glass Room," and Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger." Byatt and Coetzee are previous winners of the Booker.

Set during the reign of Henry VIII, "Wolf Hall" charts the chaos caused by the king's longing for a male heir -- a desire that led him to leave his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for Boleyn. The Vatican's refusal to annul the marriage led the king to reject the authority of the pope and install himself as head of the Church of England.

The book centers on royal adviser Cromwell, depicted as a ruthless but compelling polymath straining against the certainties of his age. Mantel said it's no surprise we remain fascinated by the time of Henry VIII, recently depicted in TV series "The Tudors" and films like "The Other Boleyn Girl." She said the period "has everything. It has sex and melodrama, betrayal seduction and violent death. What more could you hope for?"

Mantel, 57, is a former social worker and film critic who has written short stories, the memoir "Giving Up the Ghost" and novels including 2005's "Beyond Black," which was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction. She is working on a sequel to "Wolf Hall."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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