Books of the Month

'Giving up the Ghost' by Hilary Mantel

JANUARY 2006

At the beginning of 2005 I promised myself I'd try and read more non-fiction, and you'll see that I've managed to make at least a few of my Book of the Month choices this year titles other than novels. This month, perhaps as a kind of compromise, I've chosen a memoir by one of the UK's most highly regarded novelists, Hilary Mantel.

Giving Up the Ghost is a story of childhood, illness, houses and ghosts. Mantel begins by expressing her own wariness of memoir-writing, but adds that her own attempt has been born from a wish to exorcise some personal ghosts. Following her upbringing in the north west of England, the book chronicles her long battle with an unknown illness, and many failed diagnoses which eventually left her unable to have children. The ghosts of the title are not only her own unborn children (specifically the daughter she always imagined), but also members of her family (either dead or absent), and the ghosts associated with different houses.

Touching without being mawkish, sensitive without losing its sense of humour, this is a thoughtful and enjoyable read.

Susan Tranter

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