Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel

I love historical fiction as a rule but Wolf Hall, Hilary’s previous book and the Man Booker prize winner I found confusing and a hard slog even though the subject matter was fascinating. Since Bring Up The Bodies is a sequel I felt compelled to read it.

STORY: continuation of the ‘rule’ of Thomas Cromwell during the fall of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell sees Henry VIII fall for Jane Seymour and he realises that to secure the future of the monarchy he must see to the ruin of Anne and allow Jane Seymour to be the next Queen and hopefully bear the King an heir.

ANNABEL’S REVIEW: I seem to now understand the way that Hilary writes mixing first and third person and consequently I enjoyed this book much more than Wolf Hall. The author has an understanding of the time and manages to paint a colourful picture of life in the Tudor Court, the intrique, back stabbing and sexual politics and into this Cromwell must preserve his own position whilst keeping the King happy. It is definitely worth reading particularly if you like Tudor History.