Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel

The sequel to the Man Booker-winning Wolf Hall.

By 1535
Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son, is far from his humble origins.
Chief Minister to Henry VIII, his fortunes have risen with those of Anne
Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, for whose sake Henry has broken with Rome
and created his own church. But Henry’s actions have forced England into
dangerous isolation, and Anne has failed to do what she promised: bear a
son to secure the Tudor line. When Henry visits Wolf Hall, Cromwell
watches as Henry falls in love with the silent, plain Jane Seymour. The
minister sees what is at stake: not just the king’s pleasure, but the
safety of the nation. As he eases a way through the sexual politics of
the court, its miasma of gossip, he must negotiate a ‘truth’ that will
satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king
will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days.

In
‘Bring up the Bodies’, sequel to the Man Booker Prize-winning ‘Wolf
Hall’, Hilary Mantel explores one of the most mystifying and frightening
episodes in English history: the destruction of Anne Boleyn. From
history’s darkroom, this novel offers a speaking picture to the modern
world, a vision of Tudor England so recognizable it defies archaism. It
is the work of one of our great writers at the height of her powers.