The 41st annual Booker Prize won by Henry VIII's court !

The Man Booker Prize is Britain's most prestigious literary award. The announcement of the names of the six final contestants — the Booker shortlist — has been known to cause very hot debates and reactions all accross the country.

Any novel published in Britain and written in English by a resident of a British Commonwealth country, the Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe are eligible for the prize. Then various judges first select a list of a dozen novels, and after a public debate a short list of six finalists is chosen. The winner is generaly announced in mid-October at an evening ceremony in London.

This year, Hilary Mantel was picked with her historical novel about Henry VIII's court, Wolf hall.

The scene takes place in England, in the 1520's. The political position is unstable: if the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by Civil War. Henry VIII wants to cancel his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the king's freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.
Thomas Cromwell steps into this dead-end, an original gentleman, idealistic and opportunist, astute in reading people and a consummate, ambitious politician. He will help the king break the opposition, and look for the triumph, whatever its price could be.

Hilary Mantel has already written ten novels, many short stories and a memoir. She has spent five years writing Wolf Hall and it was her first time being nominated for the Booker Prize. The book was published by Fourth Estate in Britain and Henry Holt & Company in the United States, and widely commented among reviewers.

The author won the prize of £50 000. Above all that she also expects a huge increase in sales and a worldwide recognition.

Adam foulds, Hilary Mantel, A.S. Byatt and Simon Mawer,

the winner and other shortlisted authors.

T.D

S.R