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Writer Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize for her novel 鈥淏ring Up the Bodies,鈥� making her the first woman and only Briton to win the high-profile award twice.

Mantel won the 2009 Booker Prize for 鈥淲olf Hall,鈥� the first in a planned trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, a member of Henry VIII鈥檚 court. 鈥淏ring Up the Bodies鈥� centers on Cromwell and his view of the Tudor court as then-queen Anne Boleyn faces her downfall.

鈥淵ou wait 20 years for a Booker Prize [and] two come along at once,鈥� Mantel said upon accepting the award Oct. 16 at the Guildhall building in London. The author received 50,000 pounds along with the honor.

After accepting her award, Mantel referenced the 鈥�Harry Potter鈥� series and the 鈥�Fifty Shades of Grey鈥� trilogy when discussing the state of fiction today.

鈥淭here will always be some kind of genre fiction, whether it's whips and chains or boy wizards, making its way to the top,鈥� Mantel said in an interview with . 鈥淏ut what is important is there's a healthy appetite for what people off-puttingly call 'serious fiction.鈥欌��

Chair of the judging panel Sir Peter Stothard told the that he believed 鈥淏ring Up the Bodies鈥� surpasses 鈥淲olf Hall鈥� in excellence.

鈥淪he uses her power of prose to create moral ambiguity and the real uncertainty of political life,鈥� Stothard said. 鈥淲e have the greatest modern English prose writer reviving possibly one of the best known pieces of English history. It is well-trodden territory with an inevitable outcome, and yet she is able to bring it to life as though for the first time.鈥�

In , Sophia Elmhurst called Mantel's Cromwell novels "a combination of wild imagining and unimpeachable accuracy."

Winners of the Man Booker Prize often experience a sales surge after capturing the title, and Mantel鈥檚 book 鈥淲olf Hall鈥� had sold 36,000 copies before she won the Booker. Soon after she won, the book reached 600,000 copies sold. Her third installment in her series, 鈥淭he Mirror and the Light,鈥� is expected to be released in 2015, according to Reuters.

Mantel and author Will Self were regarded as the frontrunners in the race before Tuesday night, with Mantel being seen as slightly in the lead. Self鈥檚 novel 鈥淯mbrella,鈥� which follows a woman in a psychiatric ward and is written almost without paragraph breaks, may have been regarded as less accessible than 鈥淏ring up the Bodies鈥� by some readers.

鈥淧erhaps Umbrella would have been too radical a choice for a prize that, as the country's biggest, cannot help but be a little conservative,鈥� Justine Jordan wrote in the .

Mantel spent her childhood in Hadfield in northern Derbyshire and wrote her first novel, centering on the French Revolution, while working in a dress shop at 23. She sent it to literary agencies, but she told Larissa Macfarquahr during an interview for聽 that she believes the phrase 鈥渉istorical fiction鈥� made editors dismiss it.

鈥淭hey literally could not read my letter, because of the expectations surrounding the words 鈥楩rench Revolution鈥欌�攖hat it was bound to be about ladies with high hair,鈥� Mantel said.

She said when she started writing 鈥淲olf Hall鈥� after copious research, she almost laughed because it felt so easy.

鈥淚 know the subject matter鈥檚 dire, but I was filled with glee and a sense of power, a sense that I knew how to do this,鈥� she told the . 鈥淚t began to unscroll before me like a film; it was in the present tense because I didn鈥檛 know what would happen next minute. It was as if after swimming and swimming you鈥檝e suddenly found your feet are on ground that鈥檚 firm. I knew from the first paragraph that this was going to be the best thing I鈥檇 ever done.鈥�

She told Reuters she鈥檚 not worried about bringing her trilogy to a satisfactory close.

鈥淚 think I can bring it home in style,鈥� Mantel said.

Check out the video above of Mantel after winning her second Booker Prize.