A review by katdid
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel
3.0
Probably 3.5 stars.
The thing about short story collections is that there's usually a few that soar above the others and maybe a couple of clunkers. I'm only familiar with Mantel's writing from her Cromwell novels (and I mean, c'mon: bar? meet Everest) and that speech about the Royals that erroneously got everyone's knickers in a twist, so it was a novel experience to read her in short-form. My favourites were those stories that were clearly autobiographical, plus Harley Street which really put me in mind of Sarah Waters even before I cottoned on to the subtext.
The thing about short story collections is that there's usually a few that soar above the others and maybe a couple of clunkers. I'm only familiar with Mantel's writing from her Cromwell novels (and I mean, c'mon: bar? meet Everest) and that speech about the Royals that erroneously got everyone's knickers in a twist, so it was a novel experience to read her in short-form. My favourites were those stories that were clearly autobiographical, plus Harley Street which really put me in mind of Sarah Waters even before I cottoned on to the subtext.