Share & Save
Meaning
The speaker is saying that after only a small amount of reading, she felt a strong recognition that this was the kind of novel she ought to have been writing herself. It suggests admiration, envy, and a sense of missed direction. The quote also implies a sudden clarity about her own literary ambitions.
When It Was Said
Not documented yet.
Who It Was Said To
Not documented yet.
Historical Context
Not documented yet.
Source
Not documented yet.
Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
Did They Really Say It?
No source found on Wikiquote; the quote is listed as attributed to Hilary Mantel.
Did You Know?
Not documented yet.
About Hilary Mantel
British writer
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer best known for historical fiction, as well as memoir and short stories. Her work ranged across several forms, and she published from the mid-1980s onward. Her first novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, appeared in 1985. Over her career she wrote 12 novels, two short story collections, a memoir, and many articles and opinion pieces.
More from Hilary Mantel (135 quotes) →Keep reading Hilary Mantel
- “Innocence is a bleeding wound without a bandage, a wound that opens with every casual knock from casual passe…”Hilary Mantel
- “When I was thin, I had no notion of what being fat is like. When I worked in a department store, I had sold c…”Hilary Mantel
- “In the first play, the crisis is Thomas More. In the second it’s Anne Boleyn. In the third book, and the thir…”Hilary Mantel
- “Novels teach you that actions have consequences. They help you grow up.”Hilary Mantel
More Writing quotes
- “Travel writing is harrowing. You are in paradise, more or less, having to prove it is paradise. It is hard to…”Padgett Powell
- “Once I started writing, I realized just how much I really enjoyed it. I was kinda good at it, so I kept at it.”Prodigy
- “Marriage, in short, is a bargain, like buying a house or entering a profession. One chooses it knowing that,…”Carolyn G. Heilbrun
READ THE SOURCE
Books by Hilary Mantel
Bring Up the Bodies
2013
Wolf Hall
2015
The Mirror and the Light
2020
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
2014
An Experiment in Love
2007