Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light

Wolf Hall returns with the thrilling final installment of Hilary Mantel’s magisterial trilogy, based on the life and death of Thomas Cromwell. The Mirror and the Light opens in the heartbeat after Anne Boleyn’s death, as the young queen’s blood is washed from the scaffold and Thomas Cromwell picks his way across the wreckage to take up his position as principal counselor to an unpredictable king.

The Duke of Norfolk’s brother makes a move towards the throne, and a chance opens up for Cromwell to destroy an enemy and consolidate the new England he dreams of. But as the dissolution of the monasteries gathers speed, he makes a personal pilgrimage to Shaftesbury Abbey to speak with a young nun who profoundly shakes his view of himself and his place in the world.

An uprising in the North threatens to destabilize the kingdom; the rebels demand Cromwell’s head and a return to the old Catholic ways. Cromwell understands that their greatest prize would be the support of the King’s daughter Mary. With the King beginning to contemplate his chief adviser’s failings, Cromwell withdraws from court and receives unexpected news from across the sea.

The birth of a prince gives England the heir that Henry longs for, but at a terrible price. As the court grieves the death of Queen Jane, it falls to Cromwell to get the King through the mourning period and out the other side a married man again. With European politics in disarray, Cromwell sees an opportunity to cement his religious reforms in an alliance with the Protestant princes of Germany.

Cromwell’s marital diplomacy brings the Rhenish princess Anne of Cleves to Henry’s court. With France and the Emperor at peace, and threatening to invade, the marriage will cement an alliance between the powerful reforming princes of Europe and defend England from attack by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Cromwell has been stripped of his titles and brought to the Tower of London on a charge of treason. He has no friends to speak for him, although there are plenty of enemies among his prosecutors. Across the table from him, as he engages in the fight of his life, are Norfolk, Gardiner, Wriothesley and Riche, driving Cromwell inexorably down the narrowing path that will lead to the block.