SOURCE: "Shop!," in London Review of Books, Vol. 18, No. 7, April 4, 1996, pp. 23-4.

[In the following positive review, Mantel lambastes the London critics who mistreated Atkinson upon her winning of the Whitbread Award for Behind the Scenes at the Museum, then presents an extensive analysis of the book.]

On the day after Kate Atkinson's first novel [Behind the Scenes at the Museum] won the Whitbread Prize, the Guardian's headline read: 'Rushdie makes it a losing double.' Thus Rushdie is reminded of his disappointments, Atkinson gets no credit, and the uninformed reader assumes that this year's Whitbread is a damp squib. But read on. 'A 44-year-old chambermaid won one of Britain's leading literary awards last night.'

Was this the Guardian? Was this 1996? One felt spun back in time to, say, 1956: up jumps a saucy little piece with a feather duster, whisking a notebook from under her frilly...