The 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction had been awarded to the odds on favourite Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall, a historical novel about the life of King Henry VIII’s advisor Thomas Cromwell.

Along with the prestige of winning the Man Booker Prize, Mantel will also receive a nice fat £50,000 cheque and of course a massive spike in book sales. Upon accepting the award she was quoted saying “I can tell you at this moment I am happily flying through the air,” and if previous Booker sales are any indication she won’t be flying economy.

The book has been selling well for several weeks, pushing prices of signed Wolf Hall copies to over $300, it seems that even if they we’re not placing bets with the bookies people were wagering that Mantel would bring home the prize.