“My concern is less the monarchy as such than the attempt of a fading colonial power to hang onto grandeur.” Quote by Hilary Mantel
“When I came to write my Thomas Cromwell books, I moved onto the center ground of English history, but I was never there before. I didn't feel it was my history particularly, coming from Northern Britain, being of Irish extraction, being a cradle Catholic. The image of England I grew up with felt somewhere else. There was an official England in postcards, but it wasn't one I had visited. But I decided to march onto the center ground and occupy it whether it was mine or not.” FeelsWritingBookFeltMinesGrewGrew UpDecidedEnglandCatholicMovedOfficialsBritainMarchSomewhere ElseCradlePostcardsEnglish HistoryExtractionCromwell Author:Hilary Mantel
“To my astonishment, when Wolf Hall came out, people asked if I made it up - [Thomas More] burning of heretics. It was well documented. And he was proud of it! The Brits love lost causes.” PeopleIfsWellsMadeLostCausesProudMade ItBurningHallsLost LoveHereticAstonishmentBritsLost Cause Author:Hilary Mantel
“People will identify with a persecuted minority without asking themselves what they are identifying with.” PeopleAskingMinoritiesIdentifyingPersecuted Author:Hilary Mantel
“Watching live actors onstage, in something that changes night by night, real people picking up cues from each other, it concentrates you on the process rather than the result.” PeopleRealNightActorsProcessResults Author:Hilary Mantel
“For me, it is about using everything that is there and using the gaps in the record, figuring out why the gaps might be there. And then when you move on to the level of what historians said, laying the interpretations side by side. You also have to look back at the documents and make your own judgments. What the record says and what people say about it. A novelist can fill the gaps in a way that a biographer cannot.” PeopleWayLooksSaidMightMovingSidesLevelsRecordsJudgmentNovelistsInterpretationGapsHistorianDocumentsBiographers Author:Hilary Mantel
“One of the frustrations of someone like Thomas Cromwell is that, before they step into the light of history, and become extremely well documented, they are not known. A king might be well documented but not everyone.” WellsLightMightKnownStepsKingsFrustrationCromwell Author:Hilary Mantel
“The more facts I can have, the better. I can operate very nicely between them, but I am not very good at making things up. I am not sure how ethical it is.” I CanFactsVery GoodNot SureEthicalVery Nice Author:Hilary Mantel
“I am not a historian. I don't see what I do as being a rival to biography.” HistorianBiographiesRivals Author:Hilary Mantel
“It's complementary. It's fairly clear where the boundaries are. When I start telling you the contents of his head, I am making it up. But I try to make it up based on what is on the record. So even my wildest speculations [on Thomas Cromwell] will have a root somewhere.” TryingClearRecordsRootsBoundariesSpeculationComplementaryCromwell Author:Hilary Mantel