The World of Wolf Hall: A Reading Guide to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies
‘Your whole life depends on the next beat of Henry’s heart’
Ahead of the release of The Mirror & the Light, the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy, revisit two of the most celebrated novels of our time.
Bringing the opulent, brutal Tudor world of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII to glittering life, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies have thrilled and delighted readers, critics and prize judges alike. Both novels won the Man Booker Prize and have sold over five million copies across the globe.
This reading guide takes you through the story so far, introduces you to the main players, explores the key themes and offers reading group questions to discuss.
The stage is set for The Mirror & the Light. After Henry’s marriage to his third queen, Cromwell attains riches, status and unprecedented power. But how long can his luck last – a blacksmith’s son who has risen to be an earl?
Praise for Wolf Hall: -
”'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good . . . Hugely exciting, packed full of power struggles and political machinations., but also delightfully poetic, vivid in image and phrase. A rich and subtle wonder” - Daily Mail
”'Beautifully written and terrifying fiction. She makes that world so concrete you can smell the rain-drenched wool cloaks and feel the sharp fibres of rushes underfoot. It’s a world of marvels” - Daily Telegraph
”'As soon as I opened this book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret the story was over, a regret I still feel” - The Times
Praise for Bring Up the Bodies: -
”'The greatest modern English prose writer writing today” - Peter Stothard, Chairman of the 2012 Man Booker Prize
”'In another league. This ongoing story of Henry VIII’s right-hand man is the finest piece of historical fiction I have ever read . . . A staggering achievement” - Sunday Telegraph
”'Darkly magnificent . . . the finest work of historical fiction in contemporary literature” - Washington Post