Following her passing at the age of 70, Dame Hilary Mantel’s close friend paid tribute to the “attentive, giving, and extremely hilarious” author of Wolf Hall.
Former BBC Radio Derby producer Jan Rogers has expressed her sorrow over the death of her “best friend,” whom she met in 1996.
The Nottingham-born 71-year-old characterized Dame Hilary as a “forensic thinker” who is passionate about “fairness” and “all things cerebral.”
She accomplished a first by winning the Booker Prize twice.
Dame Hilary Mantel, who was raised in Derbyshire, received the prestigious award for both the 2012 follow-up, Bring Up the Bodies, and the 2009 film Wolf Hall, the first in the Cromwell series.
“Like many people who knew her, it hasn’t sunk in that she won’t be there, but I’m so glad that everyone is talking about her,” Ms. Rogers said on BBC Radio Derby.
“For half of my adult life, Hilary Mantel was my closest friend. She was, in my opinion, one of the most attentive people you could ever meet.
“She was incredibly considerate of what the other person was going through, she never failed to inquire about their situation, and she was incredibly kind, giving, and amusing.
“I believe her perspectives and interests were extremely diverse. She was particularly interested in the brains of individuals, thus no two works were the same.
She preferred to write about concepts, thoughts, and how individuals accomplished tasks rather than interpersonal relationships and emotions.
“Whenever she wrote something based on the truth, she was incredibly accurate. If it could be known, she would ensure that it was known.
In the presence of her loved ones on Thursday, Dame Hilary passed away “suddenly yet quietly,” according to her publisher, HarperCollins.
They first connected, according to Ms. Rogers, when Dame Hilary attended a public event at Beeston Library.
After reading her book, A Place of Greater Safety, the producer was eager to go.
The librarian who scheduled the speaker stated to her, “I never know what to say to authors, so she invited me to go to dinner with them,” as she sat calmly in the back of the audience.
“We proceeded to an Italian restaurant, and I recited large sections of her writing to her. Amazingly, she didn’t run a mile.
Thomas Cromwell’s rise to prominence in the court of Henry VIII was the subject of the novel Wolf Hall.
JK Rowling and Caitlin Moran, who are both authors, have also paid Dame Hilary respect.
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