Dame Hilary Mantel, the Booker-winning author of bestselling titles like the Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, died aged 70 on Friday, September 23. Mantel is survived by her husband, Gerald McEwen, who left his profession as a geologist and managed the business of Mantel’s writing. 

Even though Mantel and McEwen married in 1972, the couple did not have any children. In a 2015 interview with a UK–based television channel, the writer had said that she regretted not having a family. 

Also read: Wolf Hall author Dame Hilary Mantel dies at 70

In the interview, Mantel opened up about her family and how she had a difficult childhood. She had said that as a teenager, she struggled with her health and was left undiagnosed for a long time. 

‘I have been ill a lot in my life. When I was 19 I realised there was something physically wrong and the doctors were very unhelpful. And basically they told me it was all in my mind and that I did not have a disease but there was,” Mantel told the interviewer. 

Mantel suffered from a condition called endometriosis where the tissues that act as the lining of the womb are found outside the womb. The person affected suffers from fertility problems and chronic pain. Mantel had said that she could not have kids because of this condition. 

Also read: Wolf Hall to The Mirror and the Light: Hilary Mantel all books

‘When I was 27 I was discovered to have a gynaecological condition which affects young women and which is quite common. But by the time the disease had been given a name a great deal of damage had been done to my body,” she had said, adding, “It is something I have had to live with lifelong and it is only in the last few years that I have recovered my life.” 

It is, however, not clear if the 70-year-old author died due to illnesses related to her existing condition. It is being reported that she died surrounded by her friends and family.