希拉里·曼特尔出生在英国格罗索普市，曾于伦敦经济学院和谢菲尔德大学攻读法律。曾担任《观察家》首席电影评论家。

1992年：《更安全的地方》重现了法国大革命的恢宏场面。获得了周日快报年度小说奖。

1994年：《变温》讲述了一对传教士夫妇的故事，他们的生活因为丢失一个孩子而变得支离破碎。

1995年：《爱的考验》获霍桑登奖。

2005年：《黑暗深处》获2006年英联邦作家奖入围小说，获得2006年橘子奖提名。同年，曼特尔受封大英帝国司令勋章（CBE）。

2009年：《狼厅》获布克奖、全美书评人协会奖

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009 'Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,' says Thomas More, 'and when you come back that night he'll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks' tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.' England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages. From one of our finest living writers, 'Wolf Hall' is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion, suffering and courage.