The final novel in Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy is to be published in March 2020, it has been announced, as she admits the long-awaited book has been the "greatest challenge of my writing life".

Fans have been clamouring for the book, called The Mirror and the Light, since the second installation was published in 2012, with Mantel regularly facing questions from readers about why it was taking so long.

Her publishers, 4th Estate, have today confirmed it will be out in the UK on March 5th next year, after a stealth marketing campaign which saw a heavy clue featuring the Wolf Hall Tudor rose emblem being placed on a billboard in Leicester Square.

Bookies William Hill are already offering odds of 5/1 on Mantel winning a third Booker Prize, after the success of Wolf Hall in 2009 and Bring Up the Bodies in 2012.

The trilogy tells the true story of Thomas Cromwell's rise to prominence in the court of Henry VIII, and will conclude with his fall from grace and execution.