Hilary Mantel’s Book Sales Skyrocket after Kate Middleton Comments

Sales for the two novels that earned Hilary Mantel Man Booker Prizes have jumped since the British novelist’s comments on Kate Middleton.

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The Duchess of Cambridge makes an official visit to Hope House residential treatment center for recovering addicts in London on Feb. 19, 2013.

It looks like there really is no such thing as bad publicity. Amid a furor over Hilary Mantel’s recent remarks about the Duchess of Cambridge, sales of the British author’s award-winning novels have soared, the Telegraph reported.

Wolf Hall, winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2009, shot up Amazon’s book charts. The first in her trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, adviser to Henry VIII, Wolf Hall rose from 15th place to 7th place, up 200%, with sales more than doubling on Feb. 20 compared with the previous day, the Telegraph wrote. Sales of its sequel, Bring up the Bodies, which won Mantel a second Booker Prize in 2012, jumped 69%.

(MORE: “A Plastic Princess”? Award-Winning Author Hilary Mantel Attacked Over Kate Middleton Comments)

Mantel made headlines this week when remarks from a lecture she gave at the British Museum, entitled “Royal Bodies,” were published online by the London Review of Books were and picked up by British papers. Her comments about Kate Middleton during the speech caused media outrage, and even elicited a condemnation by British Prime Minister David Cameron while on a trip to India.

The Daily Mail ran a story on its front page on Tuesday with the headline “A Plastic Princess Designed to Breed,” and described Mantel’s words as “an astonishing and venomous attack on the Duchess of Cambridge.” However, many have supported and defended Mantel in the midst of the turmoil, the New York Times reported. The LRB tweeted on Tuesday that Mantel’s speech was about “how the media make the royals suffer.”

(MORE: In Defense of Hilary Mantel: Royalty, Fashion and Fertility in the Public Eye)

The New York Times reports that St. James’ Palace has declined to comment on the controversy; according to the Telegraph, so has Mantel. We guess she’ll have to let her book sales speak for her.

(MORE: Kate Middleton Baby Bump Photos Published — Royal Family Is Not Pleased)