Buying a Novel for a Friend?

I've been an admirer of Mantel thoughout her career, and recommend all her books. *Beyond Black* has made many lists, including the NYT top 100. The best review is from the New York Review of Books, not only for its insights into the book but for background on Mantel, her life and her previous work.

Evil is a topic always present, just sometimes more than others, and these days seem like more than more. Evil is cultural, and culture disseminates evil as product, but evil is also personal, impulsive, biological. Which prompts which, the cultural the personal, the personal the cultural, and how each affect the other, this is what interests Mantel. Along with much else. Easily the best novel released in 2005 that I've read.