The Mirror & the Light

The brilliant #1 New York Times bestseller With The Mirror & the Light,Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with her peerlessBooker Prize-winning novelsWolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwellthe boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of poweroffering a defining portrait of predator and preyof a ferocious contest between present and pastbetween royal will and a common manΓÇÖs vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflictpassion and courage. The story begins in May 1536: Anne Boleyn is deaddecapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivionCromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmithΓÇÖs son from Putney emerges from the springΓÇÖs bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealthwhile his formidable masterHenry VIIIsettles to short-lived happiness with his third queenJane Seymour. Cromwella man with only his wits to rely onhas no great family to back himno private army. Despite rebellion at hometraitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing HenryΓÇÖs regime to the breaking pointCromwellΓÇÖs robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feetripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortuneΓÇÖs wheel turnsCromwellΓÇÖs enemies are gathering in the shadows. The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under HenryΓÇÖs cruel and capricious gaze? Eagerly awaited and eight years in the makingThe Mirror & the Light completes CromwellΓÇÖs journey from self-made man to one of the most fearedinfluential figures of his time. Portrayed by Mantel with pathos and terrific energyCromwell is as complex as he is unforgettable: a politician and a fixera husband and a fathera man who both defied and defined his age.