Book Review – The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel #20BooksOfSummer25

About the Book

‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’

England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves.

Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him?

Format: Hardcover (912 pages) Publisher: 4th Estate
Publication date: 5th March 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The Mirror & the Light is the final book in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy depicting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell and covering the last four years of his life from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540. It’s one of the biggest books I’ve tackled for a long time and in order to avoid wrist strain I listened to the audiobook version. Being thirty-six hours long it took me some weeks to get through it but I was helped by the superb narration of Ben Miles, who played Thomas Cromwell in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the book. He somehow managed to create distinctive voices for the vast array of different characters. I think he nailed the gruff, sardonic Cromwell of the book, also bringing out his more contemplative side. After all, he’s a man who’s had his own share of pain and personal tragedy.

The Mirror & the Light follows directly on from the events of Bring up the Bodies, taking up the story only seconds after the execution of Anne Boleyn. It’s an event that Cromwell looks upon with no pleasure although he was responsible for marshalling much of the evidence that resulted in Anne’s downfall and the men accused of committing adultery with her. It’s just one of the many things he’s expected to fix for the King Henry, a man of mercurial temperament and sudden whims.

The story is told entirely from Cromwell’s point of view which means not only do we get insights into his thoughts on events but the reader gets to experience his sardonic humour, his often caustic views of other characters but also his doubts and fears. It also puts us in the same position as Cromwell in trying to anticipate the King’s desires which can change from minute to minute and hour to hour. He expects solutions to seemingly insoluble problems, punishing those who fail to achieve them. Cromwell has managed to navigate this difficult path up until now and as a result has been rewarded by the King with land, power and money.

Unfortunately such a rise brings enemies, including his nemesis Stephen Gardiner, formerly secretary to Cardinal Wolsey, Cromwell’s old mentor, but now Bishop of Westminster. (Those who’ve watched the BBC TV adaptation of The Mirror & the Light will recall Mark Gatiss’s superb performance as the scheming cleric.) Gardiner and the noble families, such as the Howards, who fell out of favour with the downfall of Anne Boleyn join together to bring down Cromwell. It’s at the point where the King has given Cromwell the inenviable task of freeing him from his marriage to Anne of Cleves, a marriage that Cromwell negotiated and at the time the King was all for. Unfortunately you don’t fail the King and it allows Cromwell’s enemies, including one unexpected one, to secure his arrest and imprisonment in the Tower. It’s a place Cromwell is familiar with but as interrogator not prisoner.

This is a book with an immense amount of historical detail but it is managed with such a light hand that you never feel you’re bogged down in facts. It’s the characters that shine through. Cromwell obviously, but also minor characters, such as Christophe, Cromwell’s loyal French servant, raining down curses on the King for his treatment of Cromwell to the very end. Or the calculating Jane Rochford, the wife of Anne Boleyn’s brother, who always seems to have access to the latest gossip from the latest occupant of Queen’s chambers.

I also loved the wry humour in the book such as Cromwell’s interrogation by his accusers during which they put one ridiculous allegation to him after another. You can almost picture his eye-rolling at their inane questions which are no more than anecdote, gossip, or downright invention. But even a false rumour can be dangerous, such as the persistent one that Cromwell wanted to marry Princess Mary and rule alongside her. In the end, though it doesn’t matter how outrageous the allegations are. Regardless of the years of service you’ve given, the seemingly impossible things you fixed, the order and wealth you brought to the realm, if the King chooses not to intervene to save you, it’s over.

Although from the outset we know the way things are going to end, I still found the concluding chapters of the book very moving. Cromwell’s overriding priority is to ensure the safety of his son Gregory and nephew Richard following his demise, commanding then to distance themselves from his actions, condemn them if necessary. His final days are spent preparing himself to make a good death and surrounded by the ghosts of the past. ‘He thinks, the dead are crowding us out.’

The Mirror & the Light was justly acclaimed on its publication, being shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and winning the 2021 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. It is a brilliant work of historical fiction, well worth the investment of time. The Mirror & the Light is book four of my 20 Books of Summer 2025.

In three words: Epic, immersive, dramatic

About the Author

Hilary Mantel was the author of seventeen books, including A Place of Greater Safety, Beyond Black, the memoir Giving Up the Ghost and the short story collection The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. Her novel The Mirror & the Light won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, while Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were both awarded the Booker Prize. Hilary Mantel died in September 2022.