Hilary Mantel won the Costa Book of the Year award for 'Bring up the Bodies'.
Hilary Mantel has won this year’s Costa Book award for her novel Bring Up The Bodies which the judges described as “head and shoulders” above the other books.
The writer won the Man Booker Prize last year for the same novel which is the second in a planned trilogy about King Henry VIII’s adviser Thomas Cromwell.
Accepting her prize, Mantel said she was “not going to apologise” for winning another one.
She said: “I’m not sorry, I’m happy and I shall make it my business to try to write more books that will be worth more prizes.”
The novel was up against a comic-style graphic memoir about James Joyce’s daughter, Dotter of her Father’s Eyes, by husband and wife team Mary and BryanTalbot, and children’s book Maggot Moon by dyslexic writer Sally Gardner.
The shortlist was completed by poet Kathleen Jamie’s collection The Overhaul and Francesca Segal’s first novel, The Innocents.
All five shortlisted writers receive £5,000 each with the overall winner picking up a main prize of £30,000.
