The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

After many years of eager anticipation readers now have The Mirror & the Light, the final instalment in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell. I put my copy aside until I had a full day to get well into this big book, but once I did, I could not set it aside. At an intimidating 875 pages, the book ends with this quote “For you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age. When the darkness is dispelled, our descendants will be able to walk back, into the pure radiance of the past” Petrarch: Africa IX 

The novel ends on the day of Thomas Cromwell’s death, on the 28th of July 1540, exactly 480 years ago to the day I finished reading The Mirror & the Light.  This instalment begins in 1536 with the death of Anne Boleyn, and the marriage of King Henry VIII to Jane Seymour, who will be the only one of this Queen’s to give him a living son. 

The trilogy began with Wolf Hall and continued with Bring Up the Bodies – both winning the prestigious Man Booker Prize. There have been many books written about Henry VIII and his wives, both fiction and non-fiction, showing a fascination for this time and the events that took place during the reign of this larger than life King of England. I, for one, was happy that I have read so much about this time, so that I did not have to refer to the extensive cast of characters to follow the history. Hilary Mantel is very sympathetic in her portrayal of Thomas Cromwell – unlike CJ Sansom in his excellent Shardlake mystery series. We see Cromwell as a man who suffered a difficult childhood and with effort and self-education becomes a man who appears to be indispensable to the King of England – at least as long as he is needed. Once he is not, of course, like so many others, it is off with his head.

The years between 1536 and 1540 were years of religious change and turmoil in England and in Europe. There were political alliances made and betrayed. There was a plague – entirely coincidental - that at the time of the christening of baby Edward “movements are restricted ... strangers are barred … the royal nursery is scrubbed out twice a day”. During the years of this plague some estimate that one third of the population of Europe died.

So much of the novel seems so contemporary. Hilary Mantel writes about life almost five centuries ago, peopled with characters who have the same concerns and cares as we do today. They worry about the health and welfare of their loved ones, some seek power and position, while others are happily content to live a simpler life. There are those who are honest in their words and deeds, and others who are not to be trusted.

The story is told by Thomas Cromwell, as events occur and as he reminisces. Henry and Cromwell know each other well, and though Cromwell knows that he is only truly safe as long as he is useful to the King, it seemed to me that he trusted those who would betray him with an unrealistic naivety.

Cromwell pledges his loyalty to Henry with the words “Your Majesty is the only prince. The mirror and the light of other kings” and records the same words in his journal. 

There are not many books of this length that would hold a reader’s attention for a week or more, but The Mirror & the Light does – whether days on the dock or on holiday this the perfect great big book for a good long read!