Exploring Hilary Mantel's memoir with Jillian Hess

How We Live Now with Katherine May

What’s to be done with the lost, the dead, but write them into being?’

So writes Hilary Mantel in her extraordinary memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. First published in 2003, it offers a snapshot of the great writer before the Wolf Hall era: a literary, if not commercial, success, and a fragile soul with a dark, scuttling imagination.

Katherine was joined by Jillian Hess of the brilliant Noted Substack to explore this wonderful book. They discussed the way that Mantel captures her childhood and family, her relationship to her body and the endometriosis that assailed it, the way she talks about writing, and - of course, given that it’s Halloween week - those ambiguous ghosts.

Katherine's book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

• Jillian's Substack, Noted
• Hilary Mantel’s book, Giving Up The Ghost

• Join Katherine's Substack for a free reading guide, video recordings and transcripts
• Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
• Follow Katherine on Instagram

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