‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’
England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves.
Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed …
‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’
England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves.
Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him?
With The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.
--front flap
After having read the first two volumes in this trilogy, I essentially knew what to expect from Mantel's writing style, and I couldn't wait to be sucked back into the world that she created. The novel is by no means short, but it never drags. Taken as a whole, an astonishing achievement, learned and readable, a brilliant cast of characters, and mesmerizing re-creation of the age.
Completing The Mirror And The Light is like waking from a dream. I've read the entire trilogy one after the other and absolutely adored every page of every one. All three are written in a very idiosyncratic style, almost like a stream of consciousness but as if Cromwell is observing his own life at one remove. I've seen people turned off these books by that stylistic choice but to me it worked perfectly, at times it was like I was reading prose in the style of poetry - a constantly shifting perception of events, past influences and a haunting history melding together in a blur of emotions and ideas. Beautiful.
The entire trilogy has made it into my personal top 3 (I tend to lump book series together as one entity), second only to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. It's been a long time since a (series of) book(s) moved me …
Completing The Mirror And The Light is like waking from a dream. I've read the entire trilogy one after the other and absolutely adored every page of every one. All three are written in a very idiosyncratic style, almost like a stream of consciousness but as if Cromwell is observing his own life at one remove. I've seen people turned off these books by that stylistic choice but to me it worked perfectly, at times it was like I was reading prose in the style of poetry - a constantly shifting perception of events, past influences and a haunting history melding together in a blur of emotions and ideas. Beautiful.
The entire trilogy has made it into my personal top 3 (I tend to lump book series together as one entity), second only to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. It's been a long time since a (series of) book(s) moved me and affected me quite so much. Brilliant.
It took me close to a year to finish this one -- I grabbed the Kindle version shortly after getting my Paperwhite. Wolf Hall was one of my first Kindle ebooks back in the day. Like Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, I thoroughly enjoyed the imagery, the details of England in the reign of Henry VIII; however, it's a long book (over 700 pages) and the cast of characters as usual was hard to track at times, and slowed me down. I also was of course dreading Cromwell's inevitable downfall and execution, which was rapid, although foreshadowed in numerous ways in the previous years before.
It is long, yet somehow one doesn't want it to end.
The quality of writing is extraordinary, and the way Mantel evokes an era none of us can know is so bold and brazen that the reader falls under her spell completely.
Very cleverly, she does not crave our sympathy for Cromwell in any of the three books; he is a bit of a thug and a man of his time. However, the reader is invited to respect him and to admire his transformation from humble beginnings in Putney to become one of the most consequential people of the 16th Century. At the end, Cromwell accepts his fate, and its inevitability. As inevitable - and unavoidable - as a kick to the head from his father Walter. For if Cromwell had tried to live his life in a way to avoid such a miserable ending, then he would have had …
It is long, yet somehow one doesn't want it to end.
The quality of writing is extraordinary, and the way Mantel evokes an era none of us can know is so bold and brazen that the reader falls under her spell completely.
Very cleverly, she does not crave our sympathy for Cromwell in any of the three books; he is a bit of a thug and a man of his time. However, the reader is invited to respect him and to admire his transformation from humble beginnings in Putney to become one of the most consequential people of the 16th Century. At the end, Cromwell accepts his fate, and its inevitability. As inevitable - and unavoidable - as a kick to the head from his father Walter. For if Cromwell had tried to live his life in a way to avoid such a miserable ending, then he would have had no life worth living at all.
The Mirror and the Light is the final installment of the Wolf Hall Trilogy. Hilary Mantel has accomplished something awesome with these books. They are richly written and impressively intricate. Yes, there are many characters, and the politics and danger surrounding King Henry VIII's reign are complicated. This, for me, was not a quick, easy read. I did not expect it to be. I love the writing and always found myself sympathizing with Thomas Cromwell, a man who carried out some evil orders for his king (though he always tried to show mercy). Mantel creates a multi-layered character for Cromwell, along with a rough, sad background. This final piece of the trilogy offers an even deeper introspective mood for him than is previously shown.
Since this is very much based on fact, there are no plot spoilers, here. We know how Thomas Cromwell's life ends, and must but marvel at …
The Mirror and the Light is the final installment of the Wolf Hall Trilogy. Hilary Mantel has accomplished something awesome with these books. They are richly written and impressively intricate. Yes, there are many characters, and the politics and danger surrounding King Henry VIII's reign are complicated. This, for me, was not a quick, easy read. I did not expect it to be. I love the writing and always found myself sympathizing with Thomas Cromwell, a man who carried out some evil orders for his king (though he always tried to show mercy). Mantel creates a multi-layered character for Cromwell, along with a rough, sad background. This final piece of the trilogy offers an even deeper introspective mood for him than is previously shown.
Since this is very much based on fact, there are no plot spoilers, here. We know how Thomas Cromwell's life ends, and must but marvel at the mindset of those who lived and worked in the king's sphere. Cromwell was walking a perpetual tightrope, until the end. This is a challenging, rewarding read and I plan to read more by this author.
Ich habe die ersten beiden Bände erst vor wenigen Monaten gelesen und mich sehr auf den Erscheinungstermin gefreut. Dann bin ich allerdings wochenlang kaum vorangekommen, und ich glaube, das lag nicht ausschließlich an Ablenkung durch das Coronavirus. Es passiert einfach nicht sehr viel, und zu viele Ereignisse aus den ersten beiden Bänden werden noch mal ausführlich nacherzählt. Ich bin unschlüssig, ob es an mir lag oder ob der dritte Band wirklich etwas lahmer ist als die ersten beiden und das Lektorat gründlicher hätte kürzen sollen.
Vielleicht war das zu langsame Lesetempo schuld. Wenn man nur wenige Seiten am Tag liest, ist es nicht leicht, sich auf ein Buch einzulassen. In der zweiten Hälfte habe ich das Hörbuch dazugekauft, es war gerade billig im Angebot und anders als sonst arbeite ich im Mutterhaushalt oft mit den Händen (Mund-Nasen-Schutz nähen, Unkraut jäten). Dabei konnte ich gut zuhören, auch wenn mir die Art …
Ich habe die ersten beiden Bände erst vor wenigen Monaten gelesen und mich sehr auf den Erscheinungstermin gefreut. Dann bin ich allerdings wochenlang kaum vorangekommen, und ich glaube, das lag nicht ausschließlich an Ablenkung durch das Coronavirus. Es passiert einfach nicht sehr viel, und zu viele Ereignisse aus den ersten beiden Bänden werden noch mal ausführlich nacherzählt. Ich bin unschlüssig, ob es an mir lag oder ob der dritte Band wirklich etwas lahmer ist als die ersten beiden und das Lektorat gründlicher hätte kürzen sollen.
Vielleicht war das zu langsame Lesetempo schuld. Wenn man nur wenige Seiten am Tag liest, ist es nicht leicht, sich auf ein Buch einzulassen. In der zweiten Hälfte habe ich das Hörbuch dazugekauft, es war gerade billig im Angebot und anders als sonst arbeite ich im Mutterhaushalt oft mit den Händen (Mund-Nasen-Schutz nähen, Unkraut jäten). Dabei konnte ich gut zuhören, auch wenn mir die Art des Vorlesens zu theatralisch und salbungsvoll war. Ich hätte stattdessen lieber so einen ASMR-Flüstervorleser gehabt wie hier techniktagebuch.tumblr.com/post/190776193487/11-februar-2020 beschrieben. Jedenfalls bin ich dann besser vorangekommen und auch für die Aussprache der Namen (Wriothesley, Anne Boleyn ...) war es informativ. Leider habe ich den Fehler gemacht, nach drei Vierteln des Buchs ganz vorsichtig in den Wikipediaeintrag über eine andere Figur, also nicht Thomas Cromwell, reinzusehen, und bin dabei tragisch gespoilert worden. Macht es nicht wie ich!
