![]() ![]() He is as cunning and clever as Odysseus - how does a mortal writer inhabit such a man? - and, like Homer, Mantel gives him plenty of grief.Įarly in the book, he hopes for a slightly easier day of just "the usual business, war and peace, famine, traitorous connivance: a failing harvest, a stubborn populace: plague ravaging London, and the king losing his shirt at cards." Incredibly, though, things get quickly more complicated. ![]() A welcome counterpoint to the slacker heroes who stagger through so many contemporary novels, Cromwell trains falcons, adopts orphans, drafts legal briefs, sweet-talks ambassadors, lends money at considerable interest, interrogates witnesses and speaks multiple languages, although he frequently keeps that a secret so he can eavesdrop on servants. The son of an abusive blacksmith, Cromwell has improbably risen to the heights of Master Secretary in the blue-blooded palace, where "the affairs of the whole realm are whispered in his ear." No man in England works harder than he does. Imagine "The Godfather" from the consigliere's point of view, "The West Wing" with Henry VIII instead of Martin Sheen. In "Bring Up the Bodies," the sequel to the Booker Prize-winning novel "Wolf Hall," Hilary Mantel continues the spectacular story of Thomas Cromwell, the 16th-century adviser to the English throne. ![]()
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