PLAY PODCASTS
Exploring Hilary Mantel's memoir with Jillian Hess
Season 6 · Episode 11

Exploring Hilary Mantel's memoir with Jillian Hess

The Clearing with Katherine May · Katherine May

November 1, 20241h 0m

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (sphinx.acast.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

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:



  • 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



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.