British novelist Hilary Mantel was working on a Jane Austen “mashup” before her death last year, the Guardian reports.
Bill Hamilton, the late author’s agent, revealed the project at a memorial service for Mantel held at London’s Southwark Cathedral. Actor Aurora Dawson-Hunte read an excerpt from the novel, which Mantel had given the title Provocation, to the gathered admirers of the writer.
The Telegraph reports that the novel was inspired by Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, told from the perspective of Mary Bennet, but incorporating material from Austen’s other novels.
Mantel’s editor, Nicholas Pearson, told the Telegraph in an interview after the service, “The last time I saw her alive she was talking passionately about the book she was embarking upon. That was at the beginning of August, six weeks before she died. She loved Austen, she was crazy about [her].”
Mantel, the two-time Booker Prize–winning author of novels including Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror & the Light, died last September at 70. Her memorial service on Thursday was attended by HarperCollins U.K. CEO Charlie Redmayne; actors Mark Rylance and Ben Miles; and authors Sarah Waters and Zadie Smith.
The Bookseller reports that Redmayne said, “Aside from being one of the greatest writers that ever lived, Hilary was also a champion of the arts, she was generous with her time, and a mentor to many people, and also hugely supportive of other writers.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
