The Light and the Mirror by Hilary Mantel.

I’ve got it, but haven’t started it yet. I’m finishing “Girl, woman, other” first, and then a friend has leant me “Apple Tree Yard”, which she described as “Lady Chatterly crossed with Mills and Boon.” It is too! Looking forward to starting “The Mirror and the Light” at the weekend. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

I've got it and can't wait to start it. Am having to finish a less interesting book for the Book Group I belong to, but I'm champing at the bit to get to grips with more of Cromwell.

Started it last night and am half way through ch.2.
It's too big to hold easily so won't be able to read it very continuously. Luckily the broad outline of the plot is familiar but it's very annoying. Will make an impossible paperback.
Can't think why she didn't make two books out of it.
But I do much enjoy her prose.

I have it; pre-ordered by my daughter as a late birthday present and couldn't wait to collect it. It is a delight to read, the same conversational style yet threaded throughout with the ever-present danger of being part of Henry Tudor's court.

But I do get angry when I hear supermarkets selling best-sellers at reduced prices; not W H Smiths perhaps because they are booksellers, but Sainsburys were announcing it a much reduced rate over the tannoy as I walked through the other day. They did exactly the same thing when Bring Up the Bodies was published, undercutting all the small independent booksellers. I buy a lot of books, and try to avoid buying them on Amazon for the same reason.

I have read parts one and two and am hoping someone might feel disposed to buy me ‘The Mirror and the Light’ for Mother’s Day. If not, I will certainly buy it myself! Can’t wait to read it.

I’ve got it on my kindle so no problems with a weighty book. I’m saving it to read on my holiday, it’s not like there will be any spoilers so I think I’m safe leaving it

Loved the first two and the TV series.

Saw it for a fiver off in a local bookshop, but oh, what a doorstop! Way too heavy to read in bed.

Thank heavens for the good old Kindle for such reads.

Agree with winterwhite it would have been much better as two books. Large tomes tend to be off putting. For example when I was about thirteen I read War and Peace and loved it. The reason it was so accessible was that it was in three volumes. I usually read in bed and this book can definitely hurt my wrists. Saw Hilary Mantel giving an interview a couple of weeks ago and she said the readers would have demands made of them!!

I’m also having trouble with the size. It needs two hands and won’t stay open but I’m getting through it so quickly that I think there’s a lot of white space around the print. The story itself is not particularly long so the paperback will be much easier to handle.
I so resent having to spend £25 on the hardback, which I don’t want but I can’t wait a year for the paperback.
And yes, I bought it at full price from our local independent bookshop.

DH bought it for me half price in our local Tesco on the day it came out. I haven't started it yet as I want to finish the book I'm into first.

I don't understand why it was reduced as soon as it came out... or why It was immediately serialised on the radio. Were the publishers not expecting it to sell?

I shall get it on Kindle at some point.I loved Wolf Hall ( but having bought the book could hardly hold it, the hardback was so heavy.)
I bought Bring Up The Bodies as a paperback, much better!
Mantel’s best work, this trilogy.

Looking forward to reading it too.

To comfortably read any book weightier than a skinny paperback I prop it on my iPad stand which was three quid from Ikea a few years ago. I place that on a cushion by day or a pillow in bed at night, to spare my wrists!

I started it ,but as you say, hard to snuggle up with in bed. Also having to check who is who until after get into it.
It's a treat, just need to get going.

How does a Kindle work if you need to continually check back to the long list of characters and family trees at the start of the book?

I bought a copy today as my local libraries are closing tomorrow which means I won’t get my reserved copy until this crisis is over. And this really is the best time to settle into such a doorstop of a book. I bought it in Smiths and got a free book too.

I do most of my reading either in bed (there'd be a risk of severe concussion if I fell asleep holding this one) or on the bus (it could dislocate my shoulder if it was in my tote). I loved the other two though, so must get it soon. I'm considering buying it as an audio book. I haven't had one of those for ages.

My copy fell on my head last night as I fell asleep holding it, and I can't prop it up at meal times as you need one hand to keep it open. Definitely would have been better in two volumes, but still savouring every page.

The recent BBC2 documentary - Return to Wolf Hall -was fascinating. I'm no history buff, but loved the TV series of Wolf Hall; I'm prone to having a short attention span but couldn't take my eyes off the screen while Ms Mantel talked us through her life and unique literary style.

Yes; I'm watching the programme at the moment [I've nodded off a couple of times; not because it's boring but because I watch tv late at night]. What a fascinating woman she is. She reminds me, in a strange way, of that art loving nun; Sister Wendy Beckett [may have her name wrong]. There's something gloriously other worldly about Hilary methinks.

It is the BBC Book at Bedtime this week. Abridged I know but still worth listening to.

Meant to add it is easier than holding a weighty book in bed.

We usually listen to Radio Four while having our lunch and they’ve bloomin’ well put it on then as well as Book at Bedtime, so now we sit in silence as I don’t want to spoil my good read - and I haven’t even started it yet!

I bought it on the first day it came out and now I'm totally immersed. Here we are living in strange and frightening times and somehow the vivid fears and uncertainties of that long ago time are giving me hope. When I finish the book I can really think all that through. Keep safe

I will get it on my Kindle. I loved Wolf Hall & Bring up the Bodies. Such a long time ago! I went with a friend to London & saw both theatre productions with Ben Cantrememberhissurname. Brilliant actor. Dark hair. Oh well.

I’ve brought the unabridged audio book of BUTB on MP3 player (free to borrow at the library in the U.K.) with me out here in Spain. I’m going to settle down to it this afternoon. Thought it would refresh my memory before buying the new novel. Handy too as we are in lockdown and the running time is 12 hours ...
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