Which novel by Hilary Mantel won the 2012 Booker Prize?

Hilary Mantel won the 2012 Booker Prize for Bring Up the Bodies.

The novel is the second part of Mantel's trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, a powerful minister in the court of Henry VIII. It follows Wolf Hall, which won the 2009 Booker Prize, and precedes The Mirror and the Light, published in 2020. The story focuses on Cromwell's efforts to help Henry VIII end his marriage to Anne Boleyn and pursue Jane Seymour.

Bring Up the Bodies is historical fiction, combining extensive research into Tudor England with Mantel's vivid psychological interpretation of people whose lives are documented in surviving records. The title refers to the deadly political and religious consequences of Cromwell's manoeuvring around the royal succession.

Mantel's victory made her the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice and the first British author to achieve that feat. The result also created a rare back-to-back Booker success for a continuing literary project: Wolf Hall won in 2009, followed by its sequel three years later.

The most common mix-up is choosing Wolf Hall, which also won the Booker, but in 2009 rather than 2012.