Writer Hilary Mantel has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for her novel Bring up the Bodies . This is the second time the author has taken home the literary award for the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, and Zimbabwe — and as EW reports, she’s also the first British novelist to win and first woman to be chosen twice. Her book Wolf Hall won the Booker in 2009. The good news about her critically acclaimed, second installment in the Henry VIII Trilogy — following the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell — even seemed to surprise her. “Well I don’t know, you wait 20 years for a Booker Prize and two come along at once,” she told press, stating that she regarded the award as “an act of faith and a vote of confidence.” GalleyCat has free reading samples from the Man Booker Longlist on their website, if you’d like to explore the works of the nominees.