‘This book has been the greatest challenge of my writing life, and the most rewarding; I hope and trust my readers will find it has been worth the wait.’ - Hilary Mantel

The Mirror and the Light (2020) completed Hilary Mantel’s award-winning and hugely popular Cromwell Trilogy. The novel’s opening pages review the aftermath of the death of Anne Boleyn with striking intensity. But what is next for Thomas Cromwell, once a poor boy from Putney, then acting in service to the rich and powerful, and now continuing his climb to power and wealth? With a master like Henry VIII, nothing is certain. Our protagonist has frequently outwitted his adversaries – but there are enemies in the shadows, and with such a formidable, temperamental King, along with a regime under threat from problems abroad and at home, what will come next?

We have three experts joining us to discuss the much-awaited achievement that is Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light.

Professor Catherine Fletcher (Manchester Metropolitan University) is the author of several books on Early Modern History. Catherine will discuss politics and diplomacy in sixteenth-century Europe and will also talk about her time as an advisor to the set team for the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall.

Dr Emilie Murphy (University of York), a Lecturer in Early Modern History and an interdisciplinary scholar on sound and the senses, will discuss 'Popular culture and religion in Cromwell's England'.

Dr Sophie Coulombeau (University of York) is a Lecturer in English Literature and a novelist. Sophie will discuss Cromwell’s names in a talk entitled: 'Crum, Cremuel, Craphead: Naming Names with Hilary Mantel', based on a forthcoming essay that will appeal in the collection Historical Fiction Now ed. Mark Eaton (OUP).

As well as reading The Mirror and the Light (and the other parts of the trilogy: Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies), you may also wish to listen to Mantel’s Reith Lectures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tcbrp

You may also wish to watch the BBC Adaptation of Wolf Hall, and seek out the published work of our speakers, some of which is shared in their biographies.

Chair: Anna Mercer (Cardiff University)

12 May, 7.30pm (LATER START TIME)

PLEASE NOTE: This event will be recorded

All recordings of this and past BookTalk events can be found here: BookTalk Recordings