'A guide to the mind of one of the great English novelists of the last half-century' Guardian
'Like hearing the voice of an old friend' Observer 'Extraordinary . . . a quality of
timelessness and prescience' New Statesman Book of the Year 'Magical . . . Here we meet not
just Mantel the Cromwell-catcher but Mantel the quill-sharp critic of contemporary life' The
Times Book of the Year THE MAGNIFICENT FINAL BOOK FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WOLF HALL
TRILOGY As well as her celebrated career as a novelist Hilary Mantel long contributed to
newspapers and journals unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she
found it. This strand of her writing was an integral part of how she thought of herself. 'Ink
is a generative fluid ' she explains. 'If you don't mean your words to breed consequences
don't write at all.' A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four
decades. Mantel's subjects are wide-ranging. She discusses nationalism and her own sense of
belonging our dream life flopping into our conscious life the mythic legacy of Princess Diana
the many themes that feed into her novels - revolutionary France psychics Tudor England - and
other novelists from Jane Austen to V. S. Naipaul. She writes about her father and the man who
replaced him she writes fiercely and heartbreakingly about the battles with her health she
endured as a young woman and the stifling years she found herself living in Saudi Arabia. Here
too is a selection of her film reviews - from When Harry Met Sally to RoboCop - and published
for the first time her stunning Reith Lectures which explore the process of art bringing
history and the dead back to life. From her unique childhood to her all-consuming fascination
with Thomas Cromwell that grew into the Wolf Hall Trilogy A Memoir of My Former Self reveals
the shape of Hilary Mantel's life in her own dazzling words 'messages from people I used to
be.' Compelling often very funny always luminous it is essential reading from one of our
greatest writers. 'A smart deft meticulous thoughtful writer with such a grasp of the dark
and spidery corners of human nature' Margaret Atwood 'Mantel was a queen of literature . . .
her reign was long varied and uncontested' Maggie O'Farrell
