![]() ![]() He’s a lot more reflective, not regretful exactly - he’s too pragmatic for that - but he’s seen things, done things, that prick his conscience and these things dwell in the tenebrous corners of his mind. In this final volume we go deeper into Cromwell’s psyche than we have ventured before. It is also, for some readers, a major irritant, but if you have made it to book 3 you’re at least used to it by now. It’s how we ride around on Cromwell’s shoulder, seeing everything from his unique point of view. “He, Cromwell.” This is the special sauce, this close 3rd person. But the real triumph of this trilogy is the use of perspective, which reaches its acme in this final instalment. I could go into raptures about Mantel’s exceptional prose - here sinewy, there sweeping - or the finely detailed historical research, or her vivid, textured Tudor England setting: as close to time travel as literature gets. ![]() ![]() The upjumped blacksmith’s boy, now Master Secretary, is newly elevated to Baron as The Mirror & The Light kicks off, a reward for his part in disposing of Anne Boleyn. Thomas Cromwell aka ‘Cremuel’ aka ‘Crumb’ aka ‘he, Cromwell’ aka. ![]()
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