The Mirror and the Light is the title of a book
The Mirror and the Light is the enigmatic title of the third volume of the trilogy by Hilary Mantel about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister. The series began with Wolf Hall about which I have posted already. Now I have finished reading the series, I can say that everything I said about Wolf Hall applies to the two sequels, as they are written in the same style and differ primarily only in that they deal with different periods in Cromwell’s time in government.
The cover of The Mirror and the Light:.
The problem with sequels
A problem every author has when writing a sequel is how to deal with the backstory. You can either leave too much out or put too much in. In this case, Hilary Mantel leaves out little, thus making the second and third volumes seem somewhat repetitive if you read all three. This is compounded by the fact that she includes in all three volumes a considerable amount of detail about events which occurred prior to the arrival of Thomas Cromwell at court. I found all this fascinating, but also somewhat confusing. However it was not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the reading experience.
The mystery of The Mirror and the Light
This book is not a whodunit, although a lot of people are killed in the story. They died by the axe, the fire and the plague among other options. The mystery for me is the reason for Cromwell’s downfall. It is clear throughout the trilogy that he had powerful enemies. The reasons are many and serious: jealousy, class and religion being the big three. Many Roman Catholic noblemen resented a common man with Protestant leanings becoming the most important man in the country next to the king.
What turned Henry against Cromwell?
Cromwell’s enemies had been around throughout his time in power and the king knew of their complaints. He had ignored them for years but suddenly he changed his mind. The obvious reason was that he blamed Cromwell for arranging his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, whom he found unsatisfactory. Yet Henry knew Cromwell had never seen Anne until she arrived in England for her wedding and he could hardly have anticipated the king’s reaction to her. Hilary Mantel gives us plenty to think about over that, including the suggestion that the French had plotted Cromwell’s downfall. Read the book and make your own mind up. It’s as good a mystery as most whodunits – even mine!