
The Mirror & the Light
By Hilary Mantel
Read by Ben Miles
The Thomas Cromwell Trilogy: Book 3
Unabridged
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2 Formats: CD
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2 Formats: Library CD
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ISBN: 9781427289513
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ISBN: 9781427289513
Category: | Fiction/Literary |
Audience: | Adult |
Language: | English |
Summary
Summary
#1 New York Times bestseller
A Time Magazine Best Books of the Year Pick
New York Times Best Book of the Year
A Washington Post Best Book of 2020
A London Guardian Best Book of the Year Selection
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
BookPage Best Book of the Year
A Paste Magazine Pick of the Month's Best Audiobooks
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
“If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?”
With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with her peerless, Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.
The story begins in 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, 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, Jane Seymour.
Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, 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 the breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform.
But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows. The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?
Eagerly awaited and eight years in the making, The Mirror & the Light completes Cromwell’s journey from self-made man to one of the most feared, influential figures of his time. Portrayed by Mantel with pathos and terrific energy, Cromwell is as complex as he is unforgettable: a politician and a fixer, a husband and a father, a man who both defied and defined his age.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Details
Details
Available Formats : | CD, Library CD |
Category: | Fiction/Literary |
Audience: | Adult |
Language: | English |
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