Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Synopsis:
The sequel to Hilary Mantel's international bestseller and Man Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall explores one of the most mystifying and frightening episodes in English history: the downfall of Anne Boleyn.
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Though he battled for years to marry her, Henry VIII has become disenchanted with the audacious Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son, and her sharp intelligence and strong will have alienated his old friends and the noble families of England.
When the discarded Katherine, Henry's first wife, dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice, setting in motion a dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason.
At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over a few terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally himself with his enemies. What price will he pay for Annie's head?
My Review:
“You can be merry with the king, you can share a joke with him. But as Thomas More used to say, it's like sporting with a tamed lion. You tousle its mane and pull its ears, but all the time you're thinking, those claws, those claws, those claws.”
In this sequel to Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel continues to weave a fascinating tale of Henry VIII and Tudor England. Thomas Cromwell has become one of the most powerful counselors to King Henry, and yet it is also more clearly than ever that his hold to power is precarious. This book covers the approximately three-year period of time during which Anne Boleyn was the Queen of England. Although it took seven years to marry King Henry, she was married only three years. She did not produce a son, so Henry decided to take a new wife. This book explains in detail the plot to rid the kingdom of Anne, and Cromwell’s part in it.
Mantel continues to impress with her in-depth research of the period and skill to humanize her characters. She creates so many complex layers of Thomas Cromwell–through the way he conducts his craft as Henry’s chief lawyer, and through the many recollections of his past as a mercenary and a youthful apprentice in Italy. Then his viewpoint on Henry, Anne Boleyn and the characters in Henry’s court is captivating. The dialogue among characters is so witty.
Mantel’s writing style is refreshingly unique, and I was soon drawn into the character of Thomas Cromwell and absorbed by the author’s wonderfully detailed descriptions of the English court and the ordinary lives of people of the period. An excellent read on the parallel progress of the lives of Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn.
My Rating:
✬✬✬✬✬
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