The Mirror and the Light

I knew how Hilary Mantel's novel The Mirror and the Light (#906) had to end, with Thomas Cromwell's head on the block, but still, I hated to come to the end of this trilogy.  She has managed in Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light to make a reviled Tudor figure sympathetic right up to the last moments of his life.  Not that Thomas Cromwell was a saint, by any means, but rather, she gives us insight into what could have plausibly motivated Cromwell to do what he did, keeping in mind that history is written by the victors and shaped to their ends.

The narrative here begins with the Anne Boleyn's execution and ends with Cromwell's own.  What comes between is a fascinating tale of shifting political alliances, religious strife and of course, Henry the Eighth's ego and libido.  Perilous sands to negotiate indeed.  Yet Thomas managed the court in Henry's favor skillfully for ten years before he was brought down by jealous nobles and enemies both in England and in Europe.  Watching him walk that tightrope you are always expecting him to fall, and yet somehow he finds a way out.  Until he doesn't.

I couldn't help but think as I was reading that the Tudor Court was not very different from today's political scene in America.  I leave the casting of our own drama to you.

I know from hearing her interviewed on NPR that Hilary Mantel is done with Cromwell, but permit me to say that the Cromwell who emerges from her pages will be missed.  Rest in peace, Thomas.