Kate Middleton

Hilary Mantel has seen sales of her award-winning novels soar after making headlines worldwide by describing the Duchess of Cambridge as “painfully thin, shop window mannequin”.

Mantel, who has won the Man Booker Prize twice, said the Duchess had a "perfect plastic smile", being viewed as having “no personality of her own, entirely defined by what she wore”.

While she has not yet commented on the furore, Mantel will no doubt be pleased to hear of one positive side-effect, as sales of her book have rocketed.

Acclaimed author Hilary Mantel caused quite the stir after she defined Middleton as "a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung" whose "only point and purpose being to give birth." She also described the princess as "plastic" and "designed to breed."

The comments came during the multiple Booker Prize-winner's hour-long lecture for a London Review of Books event at the British Museum on February 4th. They have created a media storm in the UK - and yet the headlines hide a more complex discussion…

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