Hilary Mantel takes Cromwell down

Mantel's final instalment arrives - 9th March 2020

Dame Hilary Mantel's new novel has finally been published. 'The Mirror and the Light concludes the author's 'Wolf Hall' trilogy. The series tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's chief advisor.

Cromwell was born in 1485 to a poor family. He rose to enormous power and controlled English politics and religion for 10 years. He cruelly murdered his enemies and was eventually executed. He died on Tower Hill in London on 28 July 1540.

Mantel's first book in the trilogy, 'Wolf Hall', was published in 2009. 'Bring Up the Bodies' came out in 2012. Both highly praised books covered well-known events: Thomas More, Henry VIII's arguments with Rome, and his marriage to Anne Boleyn.

The final book centres on the king's less discussed later marriages and a large number of executions. Mantel takes the reader into Cromwell's brutal, anxious mind.

One of England's best authors, Hilary Mantel has won the Booker prize twice. She is the first woman and first British author to do this. Both 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring Up the Bodies' won literature's well-respected 'Booker' prize, which is given every year for the UK's best English language novel. Critics think Mantel may well win 'the Booker' for a record third time, with critic Stephanie Merritt saying, "someone give the Booker Prize judges the rest of the year off."