Bring Up the Bodies

I just finished Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. It's the sequel to Wolf Hall (2009 Man Booker Prize winner, for people that like to read prize-winners). It continues the story of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister. Both novels are closely focused on Thomas Cromwell but they also tell the story of the individuals and families (the Boleyns, Thomas More, the Seymours) we read and study in history. I've heard other people describe the books this way and it resonates with my feeling after finishing both novels: it feels like, when you're done reading them, you know Thomas Cromwell better than you know yourself. Mantel delves so deeply into this man--of his times and also ahead of his times--that when you come out, you have the sense that a part of your world is missing and you need to read more. You wonder how an author can know a character so well and you realize it's the trick of an amazing writer: to make you think a work of fiction is real enough that it feels like the story of a friend you've gotten to know over years.

- Patrick Fuller (MS Library)