For the teenage girl from Derbyshire, the school trip to Budleigh Salterton was life-changing. Looking down at the white houses of the Devon seaside town, she felt as if she was suddenly in the Mediterranean.

One day, she promised herself, she would make it her home. Forty years later, thanks to the enormous popularity of her books, her dream came true. 

She had to work hard at it. Her first novel, A Place of Greater Safety, took five years to write. It was about the French Revolution, which she had studied at school. Teenagers, she said in an interview, "naturally understand revolution".

But publishers rejected the novel. To make things worse, Mantel was found to have a painful illness called endometriosisAn abnormality of the uterus, causing chronic pain and infertility.. It would overshadow the rest of her life.

Depressed, she put the book aside. It was finally published 13 years later, after she had written four other novels.¹ It was a huge critical success.

Even then, she was far from becoming a household name. A further 17 years passed before Wolf Hall changed that.²

Based on the life of Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith's son who rose to be Henry VIII's chief adviser, it won the 2009 Booker PrizeOne of the most high-profile literary prizes for novels in the English language.. So did its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. Stage and TV versions of the two books made her more famous still.

According to Dinah Birch in The Conversation, they opened people's eyes to what historical novels could do. In the Daily Telegraph, Sarah PerryAn English author whose work has been translated into 22 languages. wrote that reading the books was like sitting "beside a hanging tapestry, hearing the executioner sharpen his axe".

According to one education expert, imagination "sets us apart from the rest of life on earth". It lets us revisit the past, think what the future might be like and see inside other people's minds.

Yes: No other creature can imagine what it is like to be someone completely different, or work out what might happen in the future, or make up wonderful stories in the way that we can.

No: Other creatures also have imagination - you only have to watch dogs to realise that they have dreams when they sleep, and anticipate being fed. What makes us human is our superior intelligence.

Or... Imagination may not be exclusive to humans, but it is our most important trait. Ken Robinson also emphasises the importance of creativity, which he calls "putting your imagination to work".

Endometriosis - An abnormality of the uterus, causing chronic pain and infertility.

Booker Prize - One of the most high-profile literary prizes for novels in the English language.

Sarah Perry - An English author whose work has been translated into 22 languages.