Hilary Mantel takes Cromwell down

Cromwell offers Mantel historic win - 9th March 2020

The wait for Dame Hilary Mantel’s much anticipated new historical novel is finally over. ‘The Mirror and the Light’, the concluding part of her ‘Wolf Hall’ trilogy was released last week. The series follows the life of Thomas Cromwell, chief advisor to King Henry VIII.

Born into humble surroundings in 1485, Cromwell had an astounding rise to power. He dominated the political and religious life of England for a decade. Those who opposed him were brutally dealt with, but Cromwell was himself finally executed on Tower Hill in London on 28 July 1540.

Mantel’s first two instalments, ‘Wolf Hall’ in 2009 and ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ in 2012, met with high praise. They explored widely-known events including the fall of Thomas More, Henry VIII’s disagreements with Rome, Henry’s troubled marriage to Anne Boleyn and her eventual execution. The contents of this final volume, including the king’s next three marriages and a multitude of vile state executions, are less familiar. Mantel leads the reader deep inside Cromwell's calculating, troubled mind.

Hilary Mantel, one of England’s most celebrated living writers, is the first woman and first British author to have won the prestigious Booker Prize twice. This highly respected literary prize is presented annually for the best English language novel published in the United Kingdom. Critics predict that Mantel will win the Booker for a record third time with ‘The Mirror and the Light’. Critic Stephanie Merritt even commented, “someone give the Booker Prize judges the rest of the year off.”