Tudor History Lovers discussion

The winner of the poll for our August Group Read is Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to our December 2014 read, Wolf Hall. This novel about Thomas Cromwell covers the fall of Anne Boleyn, and should be widely available in all formats.

good book

I found it excellent, I love the way Cromwell is portrayed!

Wolf Hall is on my all-time fave list... started BUTB when it was released and just couldn't get into it (I really missed the voice of WH). I might give it another shot with y'all, depending on where I am with my top-shelf TBRs :) Glad this was chosen!

I found this novel to be better than Wolf Hall. I would strongly recommend to those who didn't care for Wolf Hall to give Bring Up the Bodies a chance. Mantel really gets into Cromwell without some of the "clutter" of the previous novel. I am excited to read the conclusion to the Cromwell trilogy.

Hopefully she will write it. I have heard maybe not? They were good books but also hard to get through.

I think it's scheduled to come out late this year or early next year.

I believe The Mirror and the Light is due later this year, yes.

That's good news! :)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I believe The Mirror and the Light is due later this year, yes."

As of July 2015, Mantel said that it isn't even finished yet. So no release this year for sure! She's been involved in promoting the play and TV series.

I love how Cromwell is presented, but I have problems with how Anne Boleyn is presented. Mantel, though subtly, paints Anne in the way that the readers could think - maybe she indeed was guilty and deserved it.

I enjoyed this book. I do agree that the author leaves room for you to wonder what Anne could have done, but I also feel she is trying to have Cromwell feel better about himself and his actions. For him I think it's necessary for him to imagine the possibilities as a lawyer.

I found it ironically entertaining that at the end it's pointed out that Lord Worcester is angry with Cromwell because he believes his wife had an affair with him in Cromwell is a true father of her child. It played well upon the trial and I think that was mantle's way of pointing out that gossip can ruin someone as it ruined and even if it is completely false.

I enjoyed this book. I do agree that the author leaves room for you to wonder what Anne could have done, but I also feel she is trying to have Cromwell feel better about himself and his actions. For him I think it's necessary for him to imagine the possibilities as a lawyer.

I found it ironically entertaining that at the end it's pointed out that Lord Worcester is angry with Cromwell because he believes his wife had an affair with him in Cromwell is a true father of her child. It played well upon the trial and I think that was mantle's way of pointing out that gossip can ruin someone as it ruined and even if it is completely false.

I think I want to read this book.

I like the book and how Cromwell is portrayed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book-more so than Wolf Hall which honestly took me several tries and an audio attempt to get into the rhythm of the narrative. I agree with several commenters that Anne was sharply portrayed. I have always felt she was more of a victim of circumstances not in the vein of Lady Jane Grey but still manipulated into marriage and power.

I felt I understood Cromwell better in the 2nd book. He and Anne were on such parallel paths-such "made by the King" characters and when your benefactor is as capricious as Henry well time certainly does tell for both of them. I honestly can't imagine being Cromwell in that court. He was definitely smart and ambitious but not without great flaws.

As with the first installment it was interesting to focus on the events from Cromwell's point of view instead of either a Boleyn or Seymour view. All in all I look forward to the completion of the trilogy.