
The Mirror & the Light
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ben Miles
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By:
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Hilary Mantel
About this listen
This program is read by Ben Miles, who played Thomas Cromwell in the Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.
This program includes a bonus conversation between Ben Miles and Hilary Mantel.
“If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?”
With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with her peerless, Booker Prize-winning novels, 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.
The story begins in 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, 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, Jane Seymour.
Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, 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 the breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows. The inevitable question remains: How long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?
Eagerly awaited and eight years in the making, The Mirror & the Light completes Cromwell’s journey from self-made man to one of the most feared, influential figures of his time. Portrayed by Mantel with pathos and terrific energy, Cromwell is as complex as he is unforgettable: A politician and a fixer, a husband and a father, a man who both defied and defined his age.
The Telegraph (UK) Best Books of the Year - 2020
Minneapolis Star Tribune Holiday Book Recommendations - 2020
Time Magazine Best Books of the Year - 2020
An NPR Best Book of the Year - 2020
The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year - 2020
USA Today Best Books of the Year - 2020
The Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year - 2020
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year - 2020
Man Booker Award - Nominee
New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year - 2020
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company
"Ben Miles - Group Captain Peter Townsend in The Crown - has, in addition to narrating this final volume, taken on the massive task of delivering Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies as well. He also played Cromwell in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Wolf Hall Parts One & Two, and captures again the man’s voice, its taint of baseness, its ups and downs and quiet ruthlessness." (Washington Post)
"Miles’ familiarity with Mantel’s portrayal of Cromwell pervades his performance of The Mirror & the Light, which traces Cromwell’s fall from greatness, beginning with the aftermath of Anne Boleyn’s beheading and ending with his own. Miles’ voice carries the power-hungry statesman’s monumental final act with ease and a delicate nuance, as only someone with a deep understanding of the story could." (BookPage)
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Hilary Mantel (P)2019 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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"The many listeners enthralled by the earlier two volumes in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy will find all their expectations met in this final installment... Here is a narrative achievement of the highest order." (AudioFile magazine, Earphones Award winner)
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The feeling of discovering that your favorite new listen is actually the start of a series is euphoric. That you can immediately hit play and re-enter a beloved new world, or love story, or era from history is a gift to the devoted listener. But how to pick just 100 of these unique and immersive listening journeys? We defined a series as having a minimum of three books, and—after some debate—we decided the titles had to be anchored in fiction. From YA to horror to historical fiction, from fresh voices to seminal tales, hours of discovery await.

Editor's Pick
Every event of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies has new meaning now
"I waited and waited for the final installment of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy about Thomas Cromwell; listeners, it’s here and it’s revelatory. We all know where Cromwell’s life is tending (you can’t "spoil" history), and so wise listeners will keep a hanky within reach. But the combination of Hilary Mantel’s immersion in Tudor England, and Ben Miles’s ability to become Cromwell (as seen in Wolf Hall on Broadway and the West End) is uniquely magical. (Inside baseball: she quoted Ben-Miles-as-Cromwell in the dialogue of the book!) The Mirror and the Light is 40 hours long...and ends too soon." —Christina H., Audible Editor
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Story
It is 1789, and three young provincials have come to Paris to make their way. Georges-Jacques Danton, an ambitious young lawyer, is energetic, pragmatic, debt-ridden - and hugely but erotically ugly. Maximilien Robespierre, also a lawyer, is slight, diligent, and terrified of violence. His dearest friend, Camille Desmoulins, is a conspirator and pamphleteer of genius. A charming gadfly, erratic and untrustworthy, bisexual and beautiful, Camille is obsessed by one woman and engaged to marry another, her daughter.
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Disaster
- By Frank Dudley Berry Jr. on 08-01-13
By: Hilary Mantel
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A Change of Climate
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Ralph and Anna Eldred are an exemplary couple, devoting themselves to doing good. 30 years ago as missionaries in Africa, the worst that could happen did. Shattered by their encounter with inexplicable evil, they returned to England, never to speak of it again. But when Ralph falls into an affair, Anna finds no forgiveness in her heart, and 30 years of repressed rage and grief explode, destroying not only a marriage but also their love, their faith, and everything they thought they were.
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Beautifully written
- By Patricia S. on 10-11-15
By: Hilary Mantel
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Mantel Pieces
- Royal Bodies and Other Writing from the London Review of Books
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Olivia Dowd, Hilary Mantel - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1987, when Hilary Mantel was first published in the London Review of Books, she wrote to the editor, Karl Miller, ‘I have no critical training whatsoever, so I am forced to be more brisk and breezy than scholarly.’ This collection of 20 reviews, essays and pieces of memoir from the next three decades tells the story of what happened next.
By: Hilary Mantel
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Hilary Mantel: Beyond Black and More
- A BBC Radio Drama Collection
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Hilary Mantel, Alison Steadman, Rosie Cavaliero, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
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One of the 21st century's most celebrated authors, Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize twice: for 2009's Wolf Hall, the first in her phenomenally successful Thomas Cromwell trilogy, and its 2012 sequel Bring Up the Bodies. The third novel in the series, 2020's The Mirror and the Light, won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. This collection includes three of her best works of contemporary fiction, ranging from the Gothic to the blackly comic.
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Finally made it to the end
- By anonymous D on 10-06-23
By: Hilary Mantel
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Fludd
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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One dark and stormy night in 1956, a stranger named Fludd mysteriously turns up in the dismal village of Fetherhoughton. He is the curate sent by the bishop to assist Father Angwin - or is he? In the most unlikely of places, a superstitious town that understands little of romance or sentimentality, where bad blood between neighbors is ancient and impenetrable, miracles begin to bloom. Fludd becomes lover, gravedigger, and savior, transforming his dull office into a golden regency of decision, unashamed sensation, and unprecedented action.
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Small, tight irreverant novel that wryly inverts
- By Darwin8u on 07-21-13
By: Hilary Mantel
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Eight Months on Ghazzah Street
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When Frances Shore joins her engineer husband in Jeddah, she is warned not to ask questions. But bored, she begins to speculate about her neighbors and the empty flat above her. At first she believes the flat is being used as a lover's tryst - then she suspects something more sinister.
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Perfect for listening
- By P. Tracy on 09-01-15
By: Hilary Mantel
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Thomas Cromwell
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Diarmaid MacCulloch
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the 16th century we have been fascinated by Henry VIII and the man who stood beside him, guiding him, enriching him, and enduring the king's insatiable appetites and violent outbursts until Henry ordered his beheading in July 1540. After a decade of sleuthing in the royal archives, Diarmaid MacCulloch has emerged with a tantalizing new understanding of Henry's mercurial chief minister, the inscrutable and utterly compelling Thomas Cromwell.
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Not about the Tudors
- By J.Brock on 09-18-19
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The Giant, O'Brien
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Patrick Moy
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1782: center of science and commerce, home to the newly rich and the desperately poor. In the midst of it all is the Giant, O'Brien, a freak of nature, a man of song and story who trusts in myths, fairies, miracles, and little people. He has come from Ireland to exhibit his size for money. O'Brien's opposite is a man of science, the famed anatomist John Hunter, who lusts after the Giant's corpse as a medical curiosity, a boon to the advancement of scientific knowledge.
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Brilliant, terrifying, relevant
- By Amelia Saul on 07-14-23
By: Hilary Mantel
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A Memoir of My Former Self
- A Life in Writing
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Anne Enright, Aurora Dawson-Hunte, Ben Miles, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In addition to her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel contributed for years to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. “Ink is a generative fluid,” she explains. “If you don’t mean your words to breed consequences, don’t write at all.” A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four decades.
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The writing. I would read the phone directory if Mantel wrote it. wonderful collection.
- By Anonymous User on 09-22-24
By: Hilary Mantel
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Thomas Cromwell
- The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Cromwell has long been reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power. As Henry VIII's right-hand man, Cromwell was the architect of the English Reformation, secured Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and plotted the downfall of Anne Boleyn, and upon his arrest, was accused of trying to usurp the King himself. But here Tracy Borman reveals a different side of one of the most notorious figures in history.
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narration is very well done & book is quite good
- By horoscopy on 02-18-15
By: Tracy Borman
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Six Wives of Henry VIII
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Emma Gregory
- Length: 21 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The six wives of Henry VIII have become defined in a popular sense not so much by their lives as by the way these lives ended. But, as Antonia Fraser conclusively proves, they were rich and feisty characters. They may have been victims of Henry's obsession with a male heir, but they displayed considerable strength and intelligence at a time when their sex supposedly possessed little of either. Inevitably there was great rivalry and jealously between them. The story Antonia Fraser tells is romantic and cruel, funny and sad, dramatic and enthralling.
By: Antonia Fraser
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Vacant Possession
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Ten years have passed since Muriel Axon was locked away for society's protection, but psychiatric confinement has only increased her malice and ingenuity. At last free, she sets into motion an intricate plan to exact revenge on those who had her put away. Her former social worker, Isabel, and her old neighbors have moved on, but Muriel, with her talent for disguise, will infiltrate their homes and manipulate their lives, until all her enemies are brought together for a gruesome finale.
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Strange
- By zizzaka on 05-09-21
By: Hilary Mantel
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Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him
- The Secret History Behind the Tudor Throne
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Julie Teal
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Henry VIII is best known in history for his tempestuous marriages and the fates of his six wives. However, as acclaimed historian Tracy Borman makes clear in her illuminating new chronicle of Henry’s life, his reign and reputation were hugely influenced by the men who surrounded and interacted with him as companions and confidants, servants and ministers, and occasionally as rivals - many of whom have been underplayed in previous biographies.
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Exceptional.
- By bigdjunta on 08-02-19
By: Tracy Borman
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Learning to Talk
- Stories
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Jane Collingwood, Patrick Moy
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In the wake of Hilary Mantel’s brilliant conclusion to her award-winning Wolf Hall Trilogy, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. Sharp and funny, these drawn-from-life stories begin in the 1950s in an insular northern village “scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.” For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out.
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Stories only Hilary Mantel could write
- By BG on 04-26-23
By: Hilary Mantel
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Every Day Is Mother's Day
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Evelyn Axona is a medium by trade; her daughter, Muriel, is a half-wit by nature. Barricaded in their crumbling house, surrounded by the festering rubbish of years, they defy the curiosity of their neighbors and their social worker, Isabel Field. Isabel is young and inexperienced and has troubles of her own: an elderly father who wanders the streets, and a lover, Colin, who wants her to run away with him. But Colin has three horrible children and a shrill wife who is pregnant again - how is he going to run anywhere?
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I could not finish
- By Remy on 06-02-24
By: Hilary Mantel
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A Dangerous Inheritance
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 25 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Historian and New York Times best-selling author Alison Weir is acclaimed for her absorbing works about the infamous House of York and House of Tudor lines. In A Dangerous Inheritance, Weir uses her wealth of knowledge to craft a compelling novel about two women, living 70 years apart, who are linked through the mysterious disappearance of King Richard III's nephews, Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury - also known as the Princes in the Tower.
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Not Weir's Best
- By Joshua on 01-08-13
By: Alison Weir
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The Winter King
- By: Bernard Cornwell
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The tale begins in Dark Age Britain, a land where Arthur has been banished and Merlin has disappeared, where a child-king sits unprotected on the throne, where religion vies with magic for the souls of the people. It is to this desperate land that Arthur returns, a man at once utterly human and truly heroic: a man of honor, loyalty, and amazing valor; a man who loves Guinevere more passionately than he should; a man whose life is at once tragic and triumphant.
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Might be my favorite take on Arthur
- By Allen Young on 06-12-16
By: Bernard Cornwell
What listeners say about The Mirror & the Light
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- Kimberly
- 05-05-20
Can’t bear to see it end
I’ve been holding off reading the last hour. I know how it’s going to end but for some reason I am waiting for history to change. This is a LOOOOONNG book. There are places where it seems to slow down too much. But Hilary Mantel is incapable of writing a bad sentence. Every word captures the sights and sounds of sixteenth century England. There is so much here that applies to the present time including the social distancing precautions back in the day when there was no remedy for sweating sickness, measles or the plague.
I will have to read it again- provided I can get through the last heartbreaking hour.
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- Ann
- 04-06-20
Magnificent! Vivid!
The entire trilogy is amazing, and this last book was one eagerly anticipated. What a story, what a man, what a writer, and so well read. I would not have chosen to live in such turbulent times, but Hilary Mantel allows us to be a part of history that changed the world. Thank you Hilary and Ben!
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2 people found this helpful
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- BG
- 12-10-22
Amazing production and storytelling
Mantel & Miles are the perfect combination to bring the character of Thomas Cromwell and his world to life!
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1 person found this helpful
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- mrs.truthquest
- 01-27-21
Exceptional, extraordinary, and evocative
The three books in this series bring to daily life, the times and circumstances of the early 1500s in England. The writing is superb with detail and nuance. The narration is among the best I've ever heard. I'm blind and all my books are must/needs audio. I know of what I speak. By the art and skill of author and narrator, the character of Thomas Cromwell is so delicately unwoven that we can grasp it, even as it eludes us. I am privileged to be a very very distant ancestor of Thomas Cromwell. These books are especially meaningful to me. The story of the Reformation is also told in the three books. It's a complicated, yet simple story, told in the detail it deserves in history.
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- Maureen
- 04-12-20
Perfection
The Mirror and the Light is a masterpiece.. an exquisite novel that brings to life the extraordinary times of ThomasCromwell, loyal servant and advisor to to the vicious and cruel Henry the 8th. Listening to the book is a deeply amazing experience made so by the gorgeous narration and acting of Ben Miles.
Hillary Mantel’s research and writing shine in a work of art. I’m so grateful for this beautiful book!!!
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- Billjonn
- 01-06-21
Outstanding
This is simply an amazing performance. Probably the best of the 3 (which i didn’t think was possible). The combinations incredible writing with a top drawer reading make this well worth the 38 hour investment.
I was very moved by the story.
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- Ballika
- 04-22-20
Outstanding!
Hands down this was the best historical novel I have ever read. It was so atmospheric both in story and narration that I felt I was there. I highly recommend this one!
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-22-22
Just a stunning and beautifully worded series...
I was immersed into this series of books immediately. I had watched Wolf Hall on PBS but had no idea how rich the books were. This was a wonderful investment of time and I am eternally grateful to the amazing author Hilary Mantel.
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- JoAnn Forsyth
- 05-18-23
This was a great listen!
I really enjoyed hearing the story from Cromwell’s perspective. It was very well written and I was sad to get to the end.
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- C Gangemi
- 07-09-23
Wolf Hall Trilogy is a monumental work of historically based fiction.
From the first page of Wolf Hall , “ Now get up “, I was engrossed and engulfed in the genius and drive of this man so often overlooked or , worse, misunderstood and unfairly portrayed by history. As a lawyer, so often obliged to pursue the goals of clients , goals we do not ourselves embrace , I can relate to Cromwell as he navigates the snake pit ofHenry VIII’s court.
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