Chris' Fish Place

Mantel has won the Booker, twice, for the first two books in this trilogy and the odds of the final volume making it a trifecta are pretty good.

If you know anything about the Tudor period, you know how Cromwell's story ends.  If you don't, well why are you reading this?

You could say that Mantel perhaps gives too much detail, and that would be fair.  But I should note, I read this after reading a shorter book, and in half the amount of time, I read more pages.  Mantel's prose does take you away.

What I like best about this series is how Mantel presents Cromwell himself.  Cromwell has always been a shady figure.  Always there, always doing, but always unknowable.  While Mantel makes him more accessible, she keeps that aura of unknowing, suggesting that Cromwell kept himself hidden from himself.