Author | Hilary Mantel |
---|---|
Language | English |
Series | Thomas Cromwell #3 |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Publisher | Fourth Estate (UK) Henry Holt and Co. (US) |
Publication date | 5 March 2020 (UK) 10 March 2020 (US) |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (hardback) |
Pages | 883 |
ISBN | 9780007480999 (1st ed. UK hardcover) |
OCLC | 1126280860 |
823.92 | |
LC Class | PR6063.A438 M36 2020 |
Preceded by | Bring Up the Bodies |
The Mirror & the Light is a 2020 historical novel by English writer Hilary Mantel and the final novel published in her lifetime, appearing two and a half years before her death. [1] Following Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012), it is the final instalment in her trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It covers the last four years of his life, from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540.
Mantel's twelfth novel, her first in almost eight years, The Mirror & the Light enjoyed widespread critical acclaim and brisk sales upon its release. Emily Temple of Literary Hub reported that the novel had featured on thirteen lists of the best books of 2020. [2] It was shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction and won the 2021 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. [3] Filming of a BBC television adaptation was completed in early 2024, and it was broadcast in the autumn of 2024. [4]
The Mirror & the Light covers the period following the death of Anne Boleyn in 1536. It describes Cromwell's ascent to the pinnacle of his riches and power, followed by his fall from royal favour and his public execution at Tower Hill in 1540.
Though Mantel had originally hoped to publish the book in 2018, it did not appear until March 2020. Mantel dismissed speculation that the novel had been delayed due to writer's block, distractions caused by stage and screen adaptations of her previous novels, or because she could not bring herself to write Cromwell's execution scene. Saying the project had simply been difficult, Mantel added, "But that’s not an explanation that has any news value, so people are looking for a dramatic story of the whole process breaking down." [5]
When it was published with Fourth Estate in the UK on 5 March 2020, [6] bookstores opened at midnight to sell the title. Initial UK sales were brisk, with over 95,000 copies sold in the first three days. [7] Henry Holt and Company published the US edition five days later, on 10 March 2020. [8]
The Mirror & the Light received mostly laudatory reviews from critics. [9] According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on fifty-three critic reviews with thirty-three being "rave" and twelve being "positive" and seven being "mixed" and one being "pan". [10] In Books in the Media, a site that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received 4.5 out of 5 stars from the site which was based on twenty-two critic reviews. [11] On Bookmarks May/June 2020 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received 4 out of 5 stars based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "With the trilogy now complete--and the only complaints those of slackness and heft--Mantel has cemented her place as one of our greatest literary innovators". [12] [13]
The New York Times called it "the triumphant capstone to Mantel’s trilogy," [14] the Financial Times called it "majestic and often breathtakingly poetic," [15] and the Washington Post called it a "masterful finale." [16] The Times Literary Supplement called it "some of the most complex and immersive fiction to have come along in years," [17] while The Guardian hailed it as a "masterpiece" and called Mantel's Cromwell trilogy "the greatest English novels of this century." [18] The Los Angeles Times called Mantel "unique among modern novelists in her ability to make the past as viscerally compelling as the present," [19] USA Today said that "every page is rich with insight," [20] and the Wall Street Journal called her Cromwell trilogy "a brilliant engagement with the exercise and metaphysics of power in 16th-century Europe." [21] However, the New Yorker criticised its length (754 pages in the US edition), calling it "a bloated and only occasionally captivating work." [22]
The Mirror & the Light was shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction. [23]
Like the preceding volumes, The Mirror & the Light has been adapted for the stage, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company with a script written by Mantel and Ben Miles. The play opened at the Gielgud Theatre, London in September 2021. [24]
In November 2023, Masterpiece and the BBC announced the television adaptation of The Mirror & the Light. [25] In December 2023, production confirmed that many of the principal actors from the previous TV adaptation of Wolf Hall would be reprising their roles, including Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII. [26] Filming began in late 2023 and was completed in early 2024. [27] [4]
Benjamin Charles Miles is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the television comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004, as Montague Dartie in The Forsyte Saga, from 2002 to 2003, as propagandist and television executive Roger Dascombe in 2005 film V for Vendetta, as Peter Townsend in the Netflix drama The Crown (2016–2017) and George in episode 8 "The One That Holds Everything" in the TV drama The Romanoffs (2018).
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.
Beyond Black is a 2005 novel by English writer Hilary Mantel. It was shortlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Mary I of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.
Wolf Hall is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".
Jeremy Herrin is an English theatre director. He is a Founding Director of Second Half Productions with Alan Stacey and Rob O’Rahilly. He was previously Artistic Director of the British touring theatre company; Headlong.
Joan Boughton was an English martyr.
Bring Up the Bodies is an historical novel by Hilary Mantel, sequel to the award-winning Wolf Hall (2009), and part of a trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It won the 2012 Man Booker Prize and the 2012 Costa Book of the Year. The final novel in the trilogy is The Mirror & the Light (2020).
The 2012 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded on 16 October 2012. A longlist of twelve titles was announced on 25 July, and these were narrowed down to a shortlist of six titles, announced on 11 September. The jury was chaired by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, accompanied by literary critics Dinah Birch and Bharat Tandon, historian and biographer Amanda Foreman, and Dan Stevens, actor of Downton Abbey fame with a background English Literature studies. The jury was faced with the controversy of the 2011 jury, whose approach had been seen as overly populist. Whether or not as a response to this, the 2012 jury strongly emphasised the value of literary quality and linguistic innovation as criteria for inclusion.
Wolf Hall is a British television series adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a fictionalised biography documenting the life of Thomas Cromwell.
Life After Life is a 2013 novel by Kate Atkinson. It is the first of two novels about the Todd family. The second, A God in Ruins, was published in 2015. Life After Life garnered acclaim from critics.
Outline is a novel by Rachel Cusk, the first in a trilogy known as The Outline trilogy, which also contains the novels Transit and Kudos. It was chosen by The New York Times critics as one of the 15 remarkable books by women that are "shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century." The New Yorker has called the novel "autobiographical fiction."
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two is a two-part play based on Hilary Mantel's novels Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2013), adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More.
Hamnet is a 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. It is a fictional account of William Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age eleven in 1596, focusing on his parents' grief. In Canada, the novel was published under the title Hamnet & Judith.
The Books of Jacob is an epic historical novel by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in October 2014. It is Tokarczuk's ninth novel and is the product of extensive historical research, taking her seven years to write.
The Mirror and the Light is a play by Hilary Mantel and Ben Miles based on Mantel's 2020 book of the same name. It is the third part to Wolf Hall Parts One & Two which is a double-bill play based on Mantel's novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.
Thomas Cromwell was Chief Minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1534 to 1540. He played a prominent role in the important events of Henry's reign, including the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the execution of Anne Boleyn, the marriage to Anne of Cleves, the Dissolution of the monasteries, and the English Reformation. These dramatic events have provided the inspiration for plays, novels and films from shortly after his death until modern times.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is a historical drama television series. It is the second and final part of the adaptation of the Wolf Hall novels by Hilary Mantel, covering The Mirror & the Light, the final novel in the trilogy. It is directed by Peter Kosminsky, Mark Rylance stars in the lead role of Thomas Cromwell, and Peter Straughan wrote, all returning from the 2015 series and first part Wolf Hall.
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, published in 2014, is a short story collection by Hilary Mantel.
Elodie Lauren Geraldine Harper is an English author and journalist. She began her career working for the BBC and Channel 4 News before joining ITV News Anglia as a reporter. Her Pompeii-set novel The Wolf Den (2021), the first in a trilogy, became a #1 Sunday Times bestseller.