Good lord, what a book. What a character Mantel has created with Thomas Cromwell! The supporting cast -- Eustache Chapuys, Thomas More, Wolsey, Anne Boleyn, Henry himself, Walter Cromwell, Thomas Wriothesley, Cromwell's daughters and nieces, the Wyatts father and son, Mary Carey, Cromwell's cook whose name escapes me at the moment, Hans Holbein, and on and on -- is wonderful and rich but they're no match for the man at the center. Mantel just refers to Cromwell with third person pronouns: "he," "his," only bothering to identify him by name when there might be some confusion about the reference, and then it's, "he, Cromwell." What a touch! What a writer!
I'll re-read Bring Up the Bodies next year, before The Mirror and the Light comes out. Now I face the difficult decision about what to spend the rest of the year reading. Bunches of options.
I'll re-read Bring Up the Bodies next year, before The Mirror and the Light comes out. Now I face the difficult decision about what to spend the rest of the year reading. Bunches of options.
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