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The Mirror & the Light

(Thomas Cromwell #3)

Hilary Mantel (Goodreads Author),

Ben Miles (Narrator)

4.42 · Rating details · 19,741 ratings · 3,168 reviews

Sequel to both Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, and concludes the story of Thomas Cromwell.

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Published March 10th 2020 by Macmillan Audio (first published March 5th 2020)

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Mar 03, 2013 Nermin is currently reading it · review of another edition

Shelves: can-t-wait-books

I really don't understand how and why anyone would give an unpublished book 1 star (and 4,5 stars for that matter). Isn't it high time Goodreads did something about it?

...more

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Mar 06, 2020 Marchpane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2020, read-harder-2020, 2020-releases, big-books

BOOKER PRIZE 2020 LONGLISTED

Aaaand… he’s back. Thomas Cromwell aka ‘Cremuel’ aka ‘Crumb’ aka ‘he, Cromwell’ aka... ‘he’. The upjumped blacksmith’s boy, now Master Secretary, is newly elevated to Baron as The Mirror & The Light kicks off, a reward for his part in disposing of Anne Boleyn.

I could go into raptures about Mantel’s exceptional prose — here sinewy, there sweeping — or the finely detailed historical research, or her vivid, textured Tudor England setting: as close to time travel as lite BOOKER PRIZE 2020 LONGLISTED

Aaaand… he’s back. Thomas Cromwell aka ‘Cremuel’ aka ‘Crumb’ aka ‘he, Cromwell’ aka... ‘he’. The upjumped blacksmith’s boy, now Master Secretary, is newly elevated to Baron as The Mirror & The Light kicks off, a reward for his part in disposing of Anne Boleyn.

I could go into raptures about Mantel’s exceptional prose — here sinewy, there sweeping — or the finely detailed historical research, or her vivid, textured Tudor England setting: as close to time travel as literature gets. But the real triumph of this trilogy is the use of perspective, which reaches its acme in this final instalment.

“He, Cromwell.” This is the special sauce, this close 3rd person. It’s how we ride around on Cromwell’s shoulder, seeing everything from his unique point of view. It is not objective. It’s immediate and intimate. It is also, for some readers, a major irritant, but if you have made it to book 3 you’re at least used to it by now.

In this final volume we go deeper into Cromwell’s psyche than we have ventured before. He’s a lot more reflective, not regretful exactly — he’s too pragmatic for that — but he’s seen things, done things, that prick his conscience and these things dwell in the tenebrous corners of his mind. Spectres of the past. Harbingers of what’s to come.

Every now and then we take wing, arise from Cromwell’s shoulder and soar: above the barges on the Thames, over the fields of Britain, or the alehouses where sedition foments. Sometimes his thoughts lead us further into the past, to times of heroes, saints or Roman invaders. And always he’s exhuming, turning over memories, more recent history: Venice, all slick cobblestones and mist; or Putney on a murky night, a cellar and a knife.

As we loop back to scenes from the earlier books, our view is shifted ever so slightly, casting light in new places, where fresh details glint and catch the eye. Which means The Mirror & The Light isn’t merely a continuation of this story, it also enfolds and contains everything that came before, adding richness and complexity to the whole.

At around 900 pages, this is nothing if not comprehensive. There is much minutiae of politics, religious reform, scheming and conspiring, and a huge cast of characters, all of which will no doubt test the patience of some readers. But this is it, fin, no more, and so ardent fans, savour every page of this masterful, shining achievement. ...more

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Apr 04, 2020 Adam Dalva rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It does not disappoint. It sticks the landing. And more: though it lacks the seductiveness of Wolf Hall, it gradually becomes the highpoint of the series. Mantel does the impossible here: she accelerates through time, expanding Thomas Cromwell's life in both directions as he ages and becomes haughty, as Henry VIII rushes through his wives, as England veers through myriad catastrophes in the backdrop.

Light spoilers will follow. What a relief for me to finally, 11 years after Wolf Hall, to read T It does not disappoint. It sticks the landing. And more: though it lacks the seductiveness of Wolf Hall, it gradually becomes the highpoint of the series. Mantel does the impossible here: she accelerates through time, expanding Thomas Cromwell's life in both directions as he ages and becomes haughty, as Henry VIII rushes through his wives, as England veers through myriad catastrophes in the backdrop.

Light spoilers will follow. What a relief for me to finally, 11 years after Wolf Hall, to read Thomas Cromwell's wikipedia page! And Henry's, and Queen Jane's, and all the rest.

We open with Anne Boelyn's death: it's a bit of a stagger, assuming, like me, you haven't read Bringing up The Bodies again, and you finished in 2012. There's a curious effect here - I remember the characters faintly, spirits from long ago, but after the initial slog of figuring out who everyone was again, they seemed axiomatic. Mantel's Henry VIII is a particularly indelible character, whose caprices, weight, and self-regard shift and expand as the book draws along, as the unseen net begins to circle around Cromwell. As effective as the great scenes of court (the future Queen Mary and the delightful ambassador Chapuys crackle especially) are, Cromwell's early childhood memories, particularly those with the eel-boy, an oft-referenced interaction that takes harrowing form at book's end, spark just as well.

Cromwell is the beating heart of this, his unconscious voice and his dialogue flowing in and out of the text in a way that seems effortless and shows Mantel's absolute mastery of her famous lead. He is a broad, fascinating character (a moving scene with the daughter of his former master, Cardinal Wolsey, is partnered with a bizarre, fascinating rant about how effectively he keeps the books). The ending, which I won't spoil, is gorgeous, unique, and smart.

This is an ideal series for our life in quarantine, with soap opera twists and a fascinating educational aspect, though I will caution that there are quite a few scenes of plague-related plots. An attendant becomes sick. The court makes sure to find who he has been in contact with, to keep them at home. I, here in whatever 2020 has become, felt time collapse. ...more

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Apr 16, 2020 Violet wells rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

If I could have a Hilary Mantel wish it would be that she writes a novel about Jane Rochford. I constantly found myself wishing Hilary had taken more interest in her. Was it perhaps because her and Anne were so similar that they were at loggerheads? Of all the women at court it seems to me she was the one who had the most venomous (and healthiest contempt) for Henry as a man; that she was the most thwarted by the paltry opportunities offered to women in 16th century England. I couldn't help feel If I could have a Hilary Mantel wish it would be that she writes a novel about Jane Rochford. I constantly found myself wishing Hilary had taken more interest in her. Was it perhaps because her and Anne were so similar that they were at loggerheads? Of all the women at court it seems to me she was the one who had the most venomous (and healthiest contempt) for Henry as a man; that she was the most thwarted by the paltry opportunities offered to women in 16th century England. I couldn't help feeling that it was with a riotous fatalistic glee that she eventually encouraged Catherine Howard to cuckold Henry. As if the angry feminist in her had had enough of all the patriarchal condescension and bullying.

I would imagine very few people are going to read this as a stand-alone novel. Hilary had already done all the hard work with the first two books. We all know what will happen to Cromwell but Hilary's skill in brushing almost every early detail with foreboding is masterful. As in the best thrillers it's like every detail radiates the importance of a consummating clue. Cromwell's demise is potently present throughout this book and this in large part is due to how brilliantly Mantel weaves detail into a kind of alternative tapestry whose story Cromwell can't see but we the reader can. Her decision to posit the narrative voice just above but not quite within Cromwell is paramount in making this split so subtle and dramatically effective. For one thing, it heightens our protective instincts towards him.

You can tell Hilary didn't want to finish this. She continually procrastinates, she lingers lovingly over every passage, if anything she indulges still more her love of the detail of the fabric of 16th century English life. Meditation plays a bigger part in this novel. Urgency is the last thing on her mind. In fact, this novel is outrageously long considering how little actually happens in his personal life - all the women have now exited the stage, Hilary has already exhausted Cromwell's memories and he forms no new relationship of much interest (an invented daughter adds nothing to Cromwell's character and wasn't for me entirely successful): he is simply left to repeat the same battles with his old enemies and come to terms with his ghosts. But Mantel performs two marvels here: one is to show how Cromwell's relationship with his past subtly change as the pressures of court politics begin to wear him down. As he becomes outwardly less vigilant he becomes inwardly more finely tuned. She kind of ghosts in the possibility that in his mind his downfall isn't entirely undue given how many downfalls he himself has presided over. Resignation begins to undo him. The other is to show how the significance of detail changes with time. One of the most exhilarating moments of the novel is when we learn what details are being used to bring Cromwell down. These details return to us electrified.

At least, it was lovingly lingered over until Cromwell's arrest. His fall from grace was so abrupt I was left feeling a bit cheated. We saw it coming; why didn't he? It's also a bit disconcerting how she hurries through his imprisonment. I thought she might have made more poignant drama of his last days and the ghosts of his life. (Though I loved it that he travelled back to Tuscany in his mind.) I would imagine one of the most difficult decisions for a novelist is choosing at what point in the text you're going to insert your material, especially with regards to a character's memories. I perhaps felt she might have made better use of some of these at the end. But suddenly, from not wanting to finish it, she seems in a hurry to get it over and done with. Probably though I felt cheated simply because I didn't want it to end.

There's little question Hilary has raised the bar where historical fiction is concerned. I watched The Tudors while reading this and it seemed like vulgar slapstick pantomime in comparison. I was appalled when Cromwell is shown laughing at the burlesque of Wolsey. And you sense, after Mantel, never again will that interpretation be possible. She's also perhaps even raised the bar where Tudor documentaries are concerned. I also watched a series about Henry VIII's six wives and was struck by how facile and flimsily but self-importantly subjective it was. Mantel's great achievement is to give us the illusion that only she has foraged through to the truth about Cromwell, Henry VIII and the Tudor court. She entered Cromwell's heart and soul with such remarkably penetrating intimacy that it was like she was writing about a member of her own family. I suspect one reason she was able to identify so closely with Cromwell is the love of detail they clearly share. ...more

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Mar 06, 2020 Gumble's Yard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, 2020-booker-longlist, 2020-women-longlist, 2020-women-shortlist

Simply magnificent – in my view the strongest of a Trilogy whose first two volumes were among the most deserving winners in Booker history.

It is no surprise to see this also longlisted.

A book which shines a light into history and in doing so holds up a mirror to our present day.

Last Winter, a group of colleagues from around the world visited the UK for an internal conference in Windsor and in a break from the formal proceedings we took a trip to Windsor Castle. One of the many interesting parts ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Paromjit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

On the Booker Prize Longlist!

A brilliant end to this superb historical trilogy on Cromwell, the ordinary man who rises to an exalted status under Henry VIII. Mantel’s research is impeccable, her blend of fact and fiction is extraordinary, nowhere is this more apparent than in her amazing characterisations. Despite knowing where this is all heading, the tension and suspense had me biting my nails! Simply marvellous and highly recommended.

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Mar 15, 2020 Hugh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: booker-longlist, read-2020, favourites, modern-lit, womens-prize-shortlist

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020
Still my favourite book of the year, and an absolute travesty that it missed the shortlist.

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

A monumental book that brings a brilliant series to a fitting conclusion.

I am neither a historian nor a writer, which means I am far from being the best person to review this book, nor does there seem much point writing in detail about the plot, most of which is documented history, so I would rather focus on personal impr Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020
Still my favourite book of the year, and an absolute travesty that it missed the shortlist.

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

A monumental book that brings a brilliant series to a fitting conclusion.

I am neither a historian nor a writer, which means I am far from being the best person to review this book, nor does there seem much point writing in detail about the plot, most of which is documented history, so I would rather focus on personal impressions.

As in the earlier books, whatever we may feel about her take on his motivations, Mantel's Cromwell is a brilliantly realised and very human character, for all the barbarity that survival in such times required. Once again, he is mostly described in the third person, either as he, or he with a job title (Lord Privy Seal for most of the book and Essex at the end).

The story is bookended by two beheadings - we start where Bring Up the Bodies finished at the execution of Anne Boleyn, and we finish with Cromwell's own demise (though there is a brief chapter at the end which explains what happened to the real people who were still alive at this point, and my Waterstones edition also has a brief note on some of the locations Mantel visited while researching the book and how they affected her perceptions).

He, the protagonist, is increasingly haunted by his own past, both the people and the events that shaped him, which enables Mantel to revisit key moments from the first two books. All six of Henry's wives appear, though the last two Catherines are peripheral characters.

As always there is plenty of humour, the language is lively, and Mantel's grasp of period detail is impressive, at least to a non-expert. The dialogue retains just enough archaic language to be plausible without ever becoming difficult to follow. There are a surprising number of issues that have contemporary relevance.

The core story is in six parts, each of which consists of three chapters except the last, which has just two. These chapters vary in length from a few pages to over 100.

Mantel saves the best for part six, which starts with Cromwell's arrest and imagines the interrogation, the way his allies deserted him and the way his own life is distorted just as he distorted those he sought to destroy.

A must read book which will almost certainly bring Mantel further prizes. ...more

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Apr 19, 2020 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star-reads, historical

This is an extraordinarily potent and beautifully written (if not quite perfect) conclusion to the trilogy

Here Mantel closes the book on Cromwell’s life, depicting his swift downfall in all its inglory, but she has remained unflinchingly conservative (to a fault?) telling the story of his demise. I will get to that later, firstly I want to talk about the tragedy she depicts here.

“What have I, but what my King gives me? Who am I. but who he has made me? All my trust is in him.”

It is t ...more

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Feb 20, 2020 Henk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Superbly written but in my opinion less compelling than both the more daring, non-linear Wolfhall and the laser like focussed, pure key events tale of Bring Up The Bodies - 3.5 stars
We servants of the king must get used to games we cannot win but fight to an exhausted draw, their rules unexplained. Our instructions are full of snares and traps, which mean as we gain we lose. We do not know how to proceed from minute to minute, yet somehow we do, and another night falls on us in Greenwich, at Ham ...more

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Jul 19, 2020 Amalia Gkavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: britain, british-literature, england, british-history, united-kingdom, favorites, 16th-century, european-history, historical-fiction

“This is what life does for you in the end; it arranges a fight you can't win.”

Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Anne of Cleves. Three women that amply demonstrate the saturnine, obsessive and fickle nature of Henry VIII. However, in my opinion, it is the tragic figure of Thomas Cromwell that sheds light to the vast extent of the monarch’s madness and cruel, evil character. The man who shaped his ideal to restore England’s glory, the mentor, the one who managed to provide Henry with his so prec “This is what life does for you in the end; it arranges a fight you can't win.”

Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Anne of Cleves. Three women that amply demonstrate the saturnine, obsessive and fickle nature of Henry VIII. However, in my opinion, it is the tragic figure of Thomas Cromwell that sheds light to the vast extent of the monarch’s madness and cruel, evil character. The man who shaped his ideal to restore England’s glory, the mentor, the one who managed to provide Henry with his so precious annulment. The one who looked upon the king and only saw the young boy who once was under his protection.

I don’t think there is much to say about the trilogy that was handed over to us by Hilary Mantel. The third instalment concludes the tragic story of Cromwell, narrating the final four years of his life until his execution in 1540 in startling vividness and glorious characterization. Mantel gave life to one of the most controversial and fascinating political figures in British History and created a monumental work in World Literature.

Following Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror and the Light is mandatory reading for the lovers of true Literature.

“What is a woman’s life? Do not think, because she is not a man, she does not fight. The bedchamber is her tilting ground, where she shows her colours, and her theatre of war is the sealed room where she gives birth. She knows she may not come alive out of that bloody chamber. Before her lying-in, if she is prudent, she settles her affairs. If she dies, she will be lamented and forgotten. If the child dies, she will be blamed. If she lives, she must hide her wounds. Her injuries are secret, and her sisters talk about them behind the hand. It is Eve’s sin, the long continuing punishment it incurred, that tears at her from the inside and shreds her. Whereas we bless an old soldier and give him alms, pitying his blind or limbless state, we do not make heroes of women mangled in the struggle to give birth. If she seems so injured that she can have no more children, we commiserate with her husband.”

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.word... ...more

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Apr 05, 2020 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-century-classics, covid-times

Near the beginning of this book, there's a scene in which an exotic cat, imported from Damascus, tries to escape from the confines of Thomas Cromwell's garden in London by climbing a tree near the wall. As he watches his servants try to capture the cat with a net, Cromwell puts his money on the Damascene cat outwitting their attempts because, like her, he himself has travelled far to get where he is, and he would fight anyone who tried to remove him from his high position.

That particular cat was ...more

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Nov 12, 2014 Desirae marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: give-it-to-me-nowwww

I need more "He, Cromwell..." in my life.

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Seriously, I cannot wait for this.

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...more

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May 08, 2020 Paul Fulcher rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, booker-2020

Now thankfully dropped from the Booker at shortlist stage

The Mirror and the Light, and its over-hyped reception, encapsulates everything that is rotten with the state of much of British literary fiction (some wonderful independent publishers aside):

- a blind spot to the development of the novel in the 20th century and a fixation with the 19th century form (perhaps as it marked the highpoint of English literature) as if Kafka, Joyce, Musil, Woolf, Bernhard, Marquez etc had never written;
- an obse Now thankfully dropped from the Booker at shortlist stage

The Mirror and the Light, and its over-hyped reception, encapsulates everything that is rotten with the state of much of British literary fiction (some wonderful independent publishers aside):

- a blind spot to the development of the novel in the 20th century and a fixation with the 19th century form (perhaps as it marked the highpoint of English literature) as if Kafka, Joyce, Musil, Woolf, Bernhard, Marquez etc had never written;
- an obsession with celebrity authors and a lack of editing of big names - there is no excuse for a novel 904 pages long, particularly one so syrupy and overwritten;
- in an industry crying out for diversity of voices, review columns dominated by a member of the literary establishment writing a novel set in England's royal past, rather than its present;
- with small publishers going to the wall, Mantel's publisher spaffing a large sum against the walls of Tower Bridge to publicise a novel that doesn't need it.

Author M. John Harrison said in a 2012 interview: A good ground rule for writing in any genre is: start with a form, then undermine its confidence in itself. Ask what it's afraid of, what it's trying to hide – then write that. Mantel's mantra seems to be the opposite, adhering timidly to the confines of historical fiction with its spurious emphasis on historical fidelity.

The first part of this novel, Wolf Hall, was published in 2009. Since then authors such as Claire-Louise Bennett, Anna Burns, Akwaeke Emezi, Eimear McBride, Isabel Waidner, Vesna Main, Valeria Luiselli, Ali Smith, Will Eaves, Derek Owusu, Gabriel Josipovici, Bernadine Evaristo, Colum McCann, Lucy Ellmann, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Cusk, Deborah Levy, Max Porter and Sara Baume and others have stretched the very boundaries of the English language novel. And Hilary Mantel’s response is simply to write a continuation of the same book. I can see why that is good for sales, but it doesn’t deserve literary accolades.

Sally Rooney for boomers. ...more

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Apr 16, 2020 Phrynne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5000-2020, finished-2020

Throughout the whole of this amazing trilogy all I have been able to think about is what an incredible man Thomas Cromwell must have been and how well Hilary Mantel has portrayed him for us. She is an artist with words, giving the reader a clear visual picture of every one of the historical characters she introduces and there are many!

As an historical account of life in England between 1536 and 1540 The Mirror & the Light just sweeps the board. Every little detail is there - what they ate, how t ...more

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Jul 27, 2020 Paula rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Literary historical fiction fans

Recommended to Paula by: Women’s prize for fiction

Shelves: historical-fiction, series, favorite-authors, audio-book, read-in-2020, literary-fiction, british, women-s-prize-nominee, favorite-books, published-2020

Booker nominee 2020
Women’s Prize for Fiction nominee 2020

Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy is the finest piece of literary historical fiction I have had the pleasure of reading. I listened to the three audiobooks back-to-back and approached THE MIRROR & THE LIGHT with excitement and trepidation knowing what was to happen.

Book Three starts with Anne Boleyn’s execution. A part of history that Cromwell devised well on behalf of his king to make way for another queen. But Henry VIII’s newest q Booker nominee 2020
Women’s Prize for Fiction nominee 2020

Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy is the finest piece of literary historical fiction I have had the pleasure of reading. I listened to the three audiobooks back-to-back and approached THE MIRROR & THE LIGHT with excitement and trepidation knowing what was to happen.

Book Three starts with Anne Boleyn’s execution. A part of history that Cromwell devised well on behalf of his king to make way for another queen. But Henry VIII’s newest queen, Jane Seymour, doesn’t last long. She dies in childbirth giving Henry the long sought for male heir to his throne. Meanwhile, the king sends his right hand man, Cromwell, off to find her replacement...and this is where Thomas Cromwell’s life begins to fall apart...

Cromwell is starting to tire. He’s in his fifties. He brings Henry a bride to marry sight-unseen. However, the king doesn’t like her looks and is stuck with a new queen he wants nothing to do with. Henry is an unpredictable sort, ready to turn on anyone in his court at the slightest whim. Cromwell’s enemies can’t wait to pounce.

Cromwell has more enemies than friends. The dirty work he has done in the name of loyalty for his king has caught up with him. The Catholics remember the monasteries he has seized. The nobility have never forgiven him for their loss of property, or the fact that Cromwell is from low birth. An old enemy, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, has returned from France and will do anything to see to Cromwell’s fall. The fickle Henry decides he is sick of seeing his most loyal subject, and does the unthinkable.

THE MIRROR & THE LIGHT shows the more personal side of Thomas Cromwell. He reflects on his past and early childhood memories. The final book in the trilogy does not disappoint. It’s filled with politics and religion, ambition and intrigue, marriages and executions, and what it means to have favor or displeasure from the royal in power.

This final book in the trilogy is filled with many characters. The dialogue is exceptional. Mantel’s prose is exquisite. There is no doubt in my mind that the author has written another masterpiece.

5 out of 5 stars ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Teresa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5

If I wasn’t as absorbed in this work as I was in the first two, that’s not Hilary Mantel’s fault. Wizard that she is with words, she can’t change the times: neither the past nor the present.

Fairly early on I found myself wondering why I wasn’t as engaged. Then realization hit me: reading of powerful men whose every action is to appease a petty, egomaniacal tyrant while carving out power and possession for themselves is not conducive to mental health in our time of pandemic. Unlike Henry VIII ...more

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Apr 27, 2020 Melindam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wheelaton-5, history, audiobook, historical-fiction

“This is what life does for you in the end; it arranges a fight you can't win.”

I don't think I ever rooted for and mourned a historical-fictional character the way I did Hilary Mantel's Cromwell and all the time I wished for a different outcome: him to be turning out forever victorious and death to his enemies!!!!

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Of course I knew what was coming, but H. Mantel managed to lull me into a false feeling of safety, just as Cromwell allowed himself to feel after he was granted the Earldom of Essex and ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 T_creum marked it as to-read · review of another edition

One reviewer knocked the book, claimed Mantel savages the royals just to sell books. The book is not published yet! And for goodness sake, read the speech! Mantel obviously feels sorry for Kate, and the "free press" gleefully and intentionally misrepresented her comments to sell newspapers Who is guilty here? ...more

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Jun 01, 2020 Hanneke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Absolutely brilliant! A true monumental testimony to Hilary Mantel’s virtuosity. I just closed the book and it will take me a few days to recuperate from the last chapter which left me devastated. I thought this third novel of the Thomas Cromwell trilogy was the most personal one. I wish I could allot it the 10* rating which it deserves.

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Mar 18, 2020 Iset rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: renaissance-age-1400-to-1650ce-fict

I feel like I have a love-hate relationship with Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books, and that in the past I’ve perhaps been too generous in how I’ve rated them.

I love Mantel’s attention to detail. She has picked apart Cromwell’s life in her research, and woven a story of vivid colours, from the most famous matters of state down to his family and home life. One feels that she knows the lanes of London where Cromwell walks, understands the earnestly held opinions of the day rather than trying to force I feel like I have a love-hate relationship with Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books, and that in the past I’ve perhaps been too generous in how I’ve rated them.

I love Mantel’s attention to detail. She has picked apart Cromwell’s life in her research, and woven a story of vivid colours, from the most famous matters of state down to his family and home life. One feels that she knows the lanes of London where Cromwell walks, understands the earnestly held opinions of the day rather than trying to force modern values on her historic characters, and has memorised the customs and culture; everything from scribbled poetry to popular dishes to a local village’s superstitions. This is probably her biggest strength, not just in this book but in the whole trilogy. Such intimate knowledge renders the world of Renaissance England with a high degree of authenticity and fidelity – at least, in comparison to other less strenuous novels with the same setting. Note that the two are not the same – authenticity and fidelity. By fidelity I refer to the facts known to history, and by authenticity I describe the willingness of the reader to believe the world that the story creates, to deem it plausible and not scoff in incredulity. This pleases me, both as a reader and a historian. That said, clocking in at 864 pages on Kindle, and, truly, packed with so much detail and digression into Cromwell’s past as well as his present, I can understand how it might be seen as too much for some.

I hate Mantel’s structural eccentricities. I don’t think the choice of present tense was a good one, as I find it only adds confusion and makes meaning muddier here. In Wolf Hall, Mantel seemed to be allergic to using her protagonists name, leaving her readers flailing for which “he” was whom. This is something that she corrected in Bring Up the Bodies to “he, Cromwell”, and continues here, but while this elucidates scenes, it then renders “he” redundant and comes across as clumsy and maladroit. It doesn’t help that, in The Mirror and the Light in particular, Mantel diverges into stream-of-thought writing, not occasionally but frequently, delving into Cromwell’s consciousness in sudden reminiscences or connecting thoughts and subjects that are not immediately apparent to the reader. Like a river bursting its banks, this kind of writing feels like it lacks direction and is difficult for a reader to track. It can be effective when employed judiciously, but I thought it was overused. If you’ve read some of Mantel's other works outside of this trilogy, you’ll know that this isn’t common to her writing as a whole. I therefore can only assume that it is a deliberate stylistic choice Mantel made with this trilogy, perhaps in order to stand out from what others are doing and present something more unconventional. I have seen some praise this as “edgy” and therefore good. I myself am of the opinion that edgy does not necessarily equate to good, and frankly I find these peculiarities of structure to be bewildering and headache-inducing. Maybe it could work in another book; but it doesn’t work for me here.

I love that Mantel takes on Cromwell as her protagonist. Cromwell has been a side character in a lot of novels, and he has often been villainised. To be fair, I definitely do not find everything the historical Cromwell did to be laudable, and certain things I would consider to be absolutely reprehensible. That said, however, I do not think that everything he did was driven by nefarious intent or had a bad outcome. Cromwell had his qualities, and in many ways he was a highly competent minister. His very rise encapsulates a key turning point in the Renaissance where merit began to be valued more highly than bloodright, and this revolution was something that princes found at once to their immense benefit, but also deeply threatening. I find that poor quality novels tend to reduce history down to stereotypical tropes, misunderstanding contemporary social mores, and painting some figures as moustache-twirling villains while raising up others onto pedestals of perfection. As a historian I’m aware that this is deeply unrealistic and fails to do justice to real people who once lived; but as a reader I’m just plain exasperated and tired of reading such a simplistic model which is boring, predictable, and not fun. Mantel gives Cromwell a modicum of justice for his achievements, and she manages to do so without creating a saint. Particularly in this book, Cromwell spends a good deal of time dwelling on his mistakes, failures, and the times when he caused injury to others.

I hate the fact that Mantel does not treat other characters with the same degree of humanity and objectivity. Particularly the Boleyn family and their adherents. In Mantel’s version of events, Mark Smeaton was never tortured into making confession, merely locked inside a cupboard full of spiky Christmas ornaments. Come on. Are we really expected to believe such a bare-faced free pass? Mantel borders on becoming Cromwell’s apologist. In her version, Jane Parker, George Boleyn’s wife, is still the shrewish voyeur who bore false witness against the husband and sister-in-law she hated, the same Jane Parker you’ve seen or read about in a dozen other lazy stories which all ignore the considerable evidence that their marriage was amicable and that it was not Jane but another lady, the Countess of Worcester, who committed the deed. In Mantel’s version, Anne Boleyn is still driven purely by naked ambition, a scheming hussy who lost her virginity in France, her father power-hungry and her brother a fatuous boor. There is nothing of Anne’s unusually rigorous Renaissance education, the conviction of her reformed faith, or her initial disinclination to the king. There is nothing shown of her father’s many successes as ambassador on his own merit, long before either of his daughters caught Henry’s eye, or of her brother’s intelligence and talents. Mantel derides silly, frothy renderings of Henry’s court in fiction, with their 21st century attitudes and gross oversimplification of events and conflicts, but beyond her own research on Cromwell she repeats many of the most spurious, flimsy, and disproven myths about some of his peers.

I would like to say that I have no misgivings about Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy and recommend it wholeheartedly. Her rich and human portrait of Cromwell is fresh and certainly appealing. And I feel under a lot of pressure to conform to majority opinion which has been dealing out 4 and 5 stars aplenty. But while these reviews praise Mantel’s genius, they seem to make little or no mention of her shortcomings. That is something I cannot do.

6 out of 10 ...more

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Feb 07, 2018 Susanna - Censored by GoodReads marked it as mt-tbr · review of another edition

It feels like we've been waiting for this one forever, but I think it's "only" five years or so.

I have never felt such kinship with G.R.R. Martin fans.

April 2020: It's come! ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 Roman Clodia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: margaret-douglas, anne-boleyn

4.5 stars

I'm going to keep this short as fans of the first two books won't need any urging to read this; and if you didn't love them, then this one won't change your mind. In fact, rather than a trilogy, this feels like the third chapter of one huge story opening as it does mere seconds after the ending of Bring Up the Bodies.

I found this snarkier than the previous books as we're treated to more of Cromwell's inner commentary (listening to the audio book on my commute led to grins and embarrass 4.5 stars

I'm going to keep this short as fans of the first two books won't need any urging to read this; and if you didn't love them, then this one won't change your mind. In fact, rather than a trilogy, this feels like the third chapter of one huge story opening as it does mere seconds after the ending of Bring Up the Bodies.

I found this snarkier than the previous books as we're treated to more of Cromwell's inner commentary (listening to the audio book on my commute led to grins and embarrassing sniggering on the tube!), yet, at the same time, there's a palpable air of elegiac melancholy about this: ghosts are everywhere, and not just Cromwell but also Henry are haunted by their pasts and the deaths that leave their stains on their souls.

This feels like a less tight story than that of Bodies, and there are a few places where it sags a little: the Pilgrimage of Grace, for example, since we only see it from the PoV of Cromwell who doesn't leave London. But the episodic nature of the narrative also contains many gems: Cromwell's visit to Mary with Norfolk and Charles Brandon; the rather bitchy portrait of Jane who is more concerned about her food than court machinations; the Meg Douglas/Thomas Howard affair.

There's more attention to Henrician literature than before with the text regularly punctuated by the political poems and satires of Wyatt, instances from the Devonshire Manuscript, and the on going negotiations over an English bible.

And the final 100 or so pages are a tour de force that deserve to win prizes by themselves alone:(view spoiler).

The prose feels slightly more experimental than in Wolf Hall as Mantel continues to focalise via Cromwell, but we still experience all the sumptuous textures and dangerous, febrile politics of the court even while attention is drawn to current parallels: religious fundamentalism, the vexed relations between England and Europe, expediency and betrayal in political life, the role of women in a patriarchy.

Gorgeous writing, complex characterization, acute intelligence, literary flair and impressive research lightly worn add up to an immersive, sophisticated reading experience that has remade what we understand historical fiction to be. Oops, seems this wasn't such a brief review, after all! ...more

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Jun 09, 2020 Emma Donoghue rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Maybe not as dramatic a standalone as the first two Thomas Cromwell books, but to me the trilogy read like one long, thrilling immersion in a fine Renaissance mind in times of trouble.

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Oct 07, 2020 Maria Espadinha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Cromwell’s Karma

*** For all the spoilers you’ll find in this review, you’ll have to blame Cromwell and the Tudors, definitely not me ***

Anne Boleyn is now dead, whilst Thomas Cromwell ascends to the top — he’s now the most powerful human of England, right after the king.

How can we relate both events?

Well... to fulfill a mandatory wish of his majesty the king Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell performed the dark genie part, whilst doing all the dirty work that led to Anne Boleyn’s decapitation. Hence, h ...more

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Jul 12, 2020 Klaus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mantel, historical-fiction

First of all, I'm really sorry that I'm finished with this greatest trilogy there ever was in Historic Fiction. Hilary Mantel's retelling of Thomas Cromwell's life is accurate, enchanting and fascinating - due not only to the fact that it represents the ten years of English history which have probably shaped the country the most, but also because of her incredibly awesome writing style and storytelling. A big, fat round of applause for Hilary Mantel, everyone.

So, regarding the third book: yes, ...more

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Apr 07, 2020 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Having read “Wolf Hall,” three times and “Bring Up the Bodies,” twice, I was both excited, and apprehensive, at reading this, final volume, in the trilogy. For we all know the ending and, from the very first page, we are aware of the threat of the axe, and of Henry’s capricious nature, as we open with the execution of Anne Boleyn. She died, Cromwell later muses, expecting to be saved. Does hope ever really leave us?

Mantel combines brilliant writing with dark humour. When we come to Cromwell’s f Having read “Wolf Hall,” three times and “Bring Up the Bodies,” twice, I was both excited, and apprehensive, at reading this, final volume, in the trilogy. For we all know the ending and, from the very first page, we are aware of the threat of the axe, and of Henry’s capricious nature, as we open with the execution of Anne Boleyn. She died, Cromwell later muses, expecting to be saved. Does hope ever really leave us?

Mantel combines brilliant writing with dark humour. When we come to Cromwell’s famous, last letter, to Henry – “mercy, mercy, mercy…” she has Cromwell write the word the second time, in case Henry, ‘should be distracted.’ We know, and Cromwell knows, the ‘Book of Henry,’ well. Even with Jane Seymour, who is the perfect wife; producing a son and not lingering long enough for Henry to become bored, Henry seems dissatisfied. By the time Anne of Cleves arrives, Henry is openly critical. There is a disastrous first meeting, leading to a litany of complaints – she does not sing, does not hunt, cannot speak English, she has an odd smell, he cannot bring himself…

Like previous books, “The Mirror and the Light,” is full of dreams, and ghosts. However, the ghost of the Cardinal has left him, which is not, the reader feels, a good sign. There is intrigue and Court gossip and, as before, wonderful characters – including the brilliant Duke of Norfolk. Those involved are in favour, out of favour, battling for favour. Meanwhile, the female characters are more passive than previously; especially without Anne Boleyn. Lady Rochford lurks in the shadows and Catherine Howard hovers in a doorway.

Watching a documentary with Hilary Mantel recently, she wrote that she thought of the ending of this book while packing her shopping in a well known supermarket. She cried. I did too. Not many novels have made me do so, but this trilogy – beautiful, moving, poignant – left me a sniffling mess. The ending is almost unbearable. The trilogy is a masterpiece. ...more

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Aug 29, 2020 Eric Anderson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

You can watch my video review where I take a trip to the Tower of London here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqAq-XYYiwg

What a journey! I've probably devoted more time to Mantel's Cromwell trilogy than I have to any other series of books since I not only read all 2,009 pages of the novels but also biographical and historical writing to better understand this time period. Though it required a lot of concentration and effort it was definitely worth it. I'm going to miss Cromwell whose soul searc ...more

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Sep 26, 2013 Leslie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

There should never be a book review before it is actually published. I have enjoyed and appreciate Goodreads but very disappointed that they would allow comments on an unwritten book. Really? Apparently, some oversight is needed.

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May 22, 2019 Annet marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Finally it's announced!!! To be published on 5 March 2020, SO looking forward to it! ...more

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Jun 14, 2020 Issicratea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-onwards, reviewed

I’m not normally someone to complain about over-long books (Trollope’s 800-odd pager The Way We Live Now, was one of my favourite reads of last year). I did feel at times, though, that The Mirror and the Light dragged, in a way I didn’t find with Mantel’s previous novels in this series—and not because the novel was less meticulously written or richly imagined than its predecessors. In many ways, in fact, I felt that the stylistic quality and consistency was better in The Mirror and the Light tha I’m not normally someone to complain about over-long books (Trollope’s 800-odd pager The Way We Live Now, was one of my favourite reads of last year). I did feel at times, though, that The Mirror and the Light dragged, in a way I didn’t find with Mantel’s previous novels in this series—and not because the novel was less meticulously written or richly imagined than its predecessors. In many ways, in fact, I felt that the stylistic quality and consistency was better in The Mirror and the Light than in the second novel of the trilogy, Bring Up the Bodies.

I’m not sure history (i.e. the period from 1536-40) did Mantel many favours in this third part of the trilogy. Some of the most vivid characters of the first two parts are dead by the start of TMATL (Wolsey, More, Anne Boleyn), and the narrative arc of the final part is less clear-cut. Much of what could have been the most compelling action, such as the Pilgrimage of Grace, takes place offstage, while Cromwell remains in and around London. Similarly, the promising antagonist figure of Reginald Pole is absent in Italy for the whole of the book.

Mantel seemed to me to be suffering quite a bit, as novelist, from the intractability of her subject matter. In the absence of any very compelling action during much of the book, she plunges back, via Cromwell’s inner monologue, to episodes from his past—his rough-edged boyhood in Putney, his formative years in Italy and Antwerp, memories of his wife and daughters, and his time in the service of Wolsey.

In some ways this technique works, providing an elegiac texture to a book that the reader knows is recounting Cromwell’s last years (even though the character does not realise it himself). In other ways, however, I felt the book was mining territory already well covered in the previous novels, so it felt rather like a greatest-hits compendium of Mantel’s Cromwell at points. There were no new characters in TMATL who struck me as particularly memorable, although it was certainly fun to revisit some old favourites (especially, for me, the suave, wily Imperial ambassador Chapuys, and the car crash that is Henry VIII by this point).

I realise I’m in a minority, to judge from this site, in not seeing this novel as quite simply a masterpiece. I think that has a lot to do with moral, or ideological, factors. Mantel makes no bones about her Protestant sympathies (and corresponding antipathy to Catholicism) in surveying this slice of English history. I found this bias quite alienating when I was reading Bring Up the Bodies, and it bothered me at points in TMATL as well. The dissolution of the monasteries, for example, is presented by and large in TMATL as a ‘progressive’ development, putting an end to a culture of superstition and corruption. The deaths of Catholics like the Charterhouse monks of London, barbarically executed in 1537, or Thomas Marshall, abbot of Colchester, hanged in 1539, are passed over very lightly in the novel. Catholic aristocrats like the Poles and the Courtneys are portrayed in a notably unsympathetic way.

This would all be fine if the novel encouraged us to see this bias as a function of Cromwell’s own prejudices and ideological commitments--but that’s not really the case. We are encouraged to identify with Cromwell throughout, and he is given enough attractive and ‘modern’ characteristics to serve as the reader’s obvious proxy within a culturally very alien world. There’s no real ‘non-Cromwell’ space in the novel from which we might take a perspective on Cromwell’s thoughts and values. Mantel’s narrative voice and Cromwell’s focalising inner monologue effectively overlap.

Thinking of Cromwell’s ‘modernity’, one thing that struck me half-way through the novel and which I then couldn’t get out of my mind afterwards, is how little inflected by Christianity his voice really is. We hear a reasonable amount about how committed Cromwell is to the Gospel and especially to Tyndale’s initiative of making the Bible available in English. At points, Mantel seems almost to flirt with the notion that this is the principal driver of Cromwell’s actions, although she is too realistic not to portray him also as driven by ambition and gain. Yet, in the entire three-part series, I barely remember a scene in which Cromwell thinks in a sustained way about grace or salvation or any theological issue. We hear more about his recollections of the Florentine game of calcio than about his relationship with God. I intuitively feel that this was not the true inner life of sixteenth-century Christians, of any theological stripe. Religion was woven into the weft of their patterns of thought and feeling in ways we can only begin to suspect. ...more

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About Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

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Hilary Mantel is the bestselling author of many novels including Wolf Hall, which won the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Bring Up the Bodies, Book Two of the Wolf Hall Trilogy, was also awarded the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Award. She is also the author of A Change of Climate, A Place of Greater Safety, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, An Exper ...more