LONDON (AP) - British writer Hilary Mantel has won the prestigious Booker literary prize for a second time with her blood-soaked Tudor saga "Bring Up the Bodies."

Mantel, who took the 50,000 pound ($82,000) award in 2009 for "Wolf Hall," is the first British author, and the first woman, to achieve a Booker double.

"Bring Up the Bodies" is also the first sequel to win the prize. It and "Wolf Hall" are parts of a planned trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, the powerful and ambiguous chief minister to King Henry VIII.

The victor was announced at London's medieval Guildhall Tuesday evening. The Booker, established in 1969, usually brings a huge sales and publicity boost for the winner.