The Light and the Mirror by Hilary Mantel.

I finished it this morning and feel a bit lost now! It's been a wonderful book, the writing is just exquisite. Surely she will win a 3rd Man Booker Prize for this.

I have always remembered the hot summer when I read Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, sitting out in the garden under the umbrella. I couldn't put them down. And now The Mirror and The Light will always signify the year of Covid-19.

As you say, Clawdy, the ending was so moving and gripping. No idea what I can read now to follow on from such a book !

I am two hundred pages into this at the moment and trying to resist the urge to read it too quickly. It is an amazing, mesmerising read. I agree, if she doesn’t get a third Booker Prize for this it will be a travesty.

"The Taming of the Queen" by Philippa Gregory is very good - she is an historian and thoroughly researches her subjects, although her writing is not on a par with Hilary Mantel's, but still good.

However, "The Taming of the Queen" really conjured up how terrifying (and revolting) it was in Tudor times to be picked by Henry VIII to become his next wife. This is the story of Katherine Parr, his final wife.

I've read all her books on the Tudors.

clawdy I found it much harder going than WH/BUTB too. I'm reading WH again at the moment and finding it much easier (and also rediscovering bits I didn't appreciate first time round).

On the whole I though MaL somewhat overlong and found the "dreamy" bits OTT.

And yes, there was a part somewhere in the middle where very little seemed to happen apart from Henry musing over whom to marry next.

Cromwell's downfall seemed to happen very suddenly and I'm struggling to find the point at which his fall from grace started.

I've also read the Tracy Norman biog of Cromwell and, apart from the obviously invented bits, Mantel seems to stick pretty much to the script.

Excellent book though - a masterpiece surely?

Can't help feeling sorry for old Crum.

oldgimmer Can't help feeling sorry for old Crum

Yes, me too. He was of his time but clearly had a brilliant mind.

I like Phillipa Gregories books. Enjoyed the tv adaptations, too. As for the latest Hilary Mantel book [I'm ashamed to say I haven't read any of them and would dearly love to read Wolf Hall at the moment] a writer [ditto a film maker; a classic example of that being Zero Dark Thirty] must be very good to write something that grips you even though you know what's going to happen at the end. I'm still listening to TMATL on catchup book at bedtime.

I’ve just finished it too, after reading very slowly towards the end, dreading what I knew would come.
It’s brilliant and I’ve enjoyed the whole long journey. Knowing that I would feel lost when I finished it, I started a new book when I was near the end so I had something to carry on.
I was grateful for the potted history at the end because I learned no history whatever at school and knew little about the Tudors.

Enjoyed this book but I wish I hadn't known his fate beforehand.
This has been a really good trilogy as you would expect from Hilary Mantel. I hope they make a TV version of this one quickly to follow on from the other 2 that have just started screening on TV.
Difficult to decide what to read next after a book like this.

If anyone doesn't want to tackle the reading and would like an abridged version it is available on BBC Sounds to listen to.