Aug 8

Aug 8 Bring Up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, #2)

Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Henry Holt (original US edition, in 2012)
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

By 1535 Thomas Cromwell is Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes having risen with those of Anne Boleyn, the king's new wife. But Anne has failed to give the king an heir, and Cromwell watches as Henry falls for plain Jane Seymour. Cromwell must find a solution that will satisfy Henry, safeguard the nation and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge unscathed from the bloody theatre of Anne's final days.

An astounding literary accomplishment, Bring Up the Bodies is the story of this most terrifying moment of history, by one of our greatest living novelists.

TL;DR Review

Bring Up the Bodies is a truly great sequel to Wolf Hall. It takes the best of that book and builds dizzyingly on the world Hilary Mantel built.

For you if: You read Wolf Hall; you love literary historical fiction and/or books set in Tudor England.

Full Review

“What is the nature of the border between truth and lies? It is permeable and blurred because it is planted thick with rumor, confabulation, misunderstandings and twisted tales. Truth can break the gates down, truth can howl in the street; unless truth is pleasing, personable and easy to like, she is condemned to stay whimpering at the back door.”

Well, folks, Hilary Mantel has done it again, but even better this time. I feel like she took the moments of Wolf Hall that were most exciting and engaging, and spun them into this sequel. It was faster paced but didn’t lose any of the nuance or strength she’s known for.

This book picks up right where Wolf Hall left off and follows our cast of characters up through (spoiler, I guess, if you don’t know the history) Anne Boleyn’s execution. In this one, Thomas Cromwell is no longer floundering around trying to find his place and climb higher and higher; he’s perched precariously, he knows where he stands, he’s surrendered to the fact that his life is subject to the forces that whip around and rule his life and freedom, and he’s willing to do what he needs to do to survive. It’s not always the best look for our good friend Tom (bonus points if you got that reference), but it feels true and I’m eager to see what becomes of him in the last book.

But even beyond that, this book is very much about women. How they are buffeted around constantly; their strength and vulnerability; the hypocrisy in how they are treated and heralded and cast aside and literally just used like pawns. And yet they admirably do what they can to grab at the power they have for as long as they can, knowing that someday it will end when their beauty or fertility or goodwill ends.

This is the dizzying next chapter of the story Hilary Mantel so lovingly crafted. I’ve heard that this book is the best of the trilogy, the fastest paced, but I’ll definitely be reading The Mirror and the Light.