Book #21 for 2022: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the second book in the Wolf Hall trilogy, and sets off where the original book ended. The title comes from a phrase that is used in the book, but which does not appear until around page 365.
So, Henry VIII has divorced Katherine of Aragon, and is married to Anne Boleyn. Those who are familiar with British history, particuarly Henry VIII's wives, will know that things will not end well for Anne, and sure enough the book leads up to her beheading, after Thomas Cromwell's involvement in helping create false charges of adultery against her. At one point, the book describes Anne as "a book left open on a desk for anyone to write on the pages, where only her husband should inscribe".
First off, this book was slightly shorter, and less complex, than its predecessor, meaning that it was a slightly easier read for me. The narrative style was the same as the original, and I noticed that at times Hilary Mantel wanted to really give the reader the impression of having been transported to the past, and witnessing the events first hand, with some sentences making items sound tangible, even portraying the reader at times as being able to touch and hear things, and read inscriptions.
There were a lot of events in this book that I wasn't familar with, or which I had forgotten about. Much of the first half of the book deals with Katherine of Aragon's ailing health, and her eventual death (I had not been aware that she was the first of Henry VIII's wives to die). There was also a story involving a stillborn boy that Anne had, which I remembered learning about in school. There was also a story involving an accident where Henry VIII was believed to be dead (I wasn't sure if this was based on factual evidence or fictionalised for the novel).
There were some other minor details I enjoyed, including the fact that Henry VIII was described as meeting with Jane Seymour, his third and favourite wife, early on in the book, and how later on Cromwell forbids Jane from removing gloves in front of the King (a portrayal of moral values of the day in which this book is set). Anne Boleyn is described as giving her money away to onlookers as she heads to the execution block.
I remember watching the dramatisation of this book on the BBC some time ago (it was shown as a serial along with Wolf Hall), and the writer made a big thing of the execution, which seemed to last for almost a quarter of the episode. It takes up less time in the book, but is still described in the same painstaking detail as the rest of the book.
I am really looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light.
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