Beyond Black

Hilary Mantel was born in Derbyshire. She was educated at a convent and later studied law. After ten years abroad in Africa and the Middle East, she returned to Britain in 1985 to make a career as a writer.

'As a piece of prose it's magnificent, but as a work of imagination it comes right out of the heart of the cold uncanny depths. It's one of the greatest ghost stories in the language, but it's far more than just a ghost story -- it's a novel of desperate truthfulness -- a majestic work, truly.' Philip Pullman 'Laceratingly observant, a masterpiece of wit, heavy with atmosphere. It is also gloriously insolent and slyly funny: full of robust, uncluttered prose and searing moments.' Independent 'Pins elusive middle England to the page in all its creepiness: a place blank and disconnected, yet fatally self-absorbing.' Rachel Cooke, Observer '"Beyond Black" is chilling, creepy and endlessly inventive.' Kate Saunders, The Times 'Hilary Mantel has done something extraordinary. She has taken the ethereal halfway house between heaven and hell, between the living and the dead and nailed it on the page.' Fay Weldon, Guardian 'A deep, disturbing, violently amusing and subversive work. It is Mantel's compassion for the ordinary people who live and die in such unlovely places that illuminates this dark book and creates its black lustre.' Ruth Scurr, Daily Telegraph 'An elegant, atmospheric tale and a nuanced portrait full of ironies.' Tatler