The Mirror & The Light book review: Hilary Mantel's epic finale "lives up to the hype"

Can any book live up to such hype? In the case of The Mirror & the Light, the answer is an emphatic yes...

The same immediacy – and intimacy – of Mantel’s extraordinary writing style is apparent from the start, helping us to set aside our knowledge of the horrors to come and live each day, each hour, with Thomas Cromwell as if we too have no idea what lies ahead. Only the occasional fleeting reference to a character or event that will have profound consequences for him later in the narrative leaves us with what Cromwell himself describes as “a chilly trickle of dismay, like water creeping into a cellar”.

We first encounter the protagonist in his 50th year. He has “the same small quick eyes, the same thickset imperturbable body; the same schedules”. But if his appearance has changed little, his responsibilities have grown immeasurably since he freed his royal master from his troublesome, son-less second wife. As well as being principal secretary, chancellor of the exchequer, privy councillor, master of the rolls and master of the jewel house, he soon inherits the title of lord privy seal from Anne Boleyn’s disgraced father. He is the ‘second man in England’ after the king.

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Mantel paints a vivid picture of the burdens, as well as the power, that come with such a staggering portfolio of duties. He rises at five each morning and is still working long after dark. Often, he sleeps in a chamber near his royal master so that he can be woken if his presence or advice are required during the night. It would be an exhausting schedule for one of much younger years, and the toll it takes on Cromwell can increasingly be seen as the narrative progresses. But so can the glittering prizes that it brings – and those that remain just beyond his grasp, urging him on to greater efforts. Danger is always present, though. The book’s title is a reference to the fragility of life in the king’s service. “If Henry is the mirror, he is the pale actor who sheds no lustre of his own, but spins in a reflected light. If the light moves he is gone.”

At a mammoth 912 pages, this is the weightiest book of the trilogy by far. Just occasionally, the narrative seems in danger of becoming too meandering – when, for example, we follow the protagonist’s apparently idle musings and fantasies. But then, in reading them, one can easily believe that every thought that passes through Cromwell’s mind – invades his dreams, even – may be to a purpose.

Hilary Mantel paints a vivid picture of the burdens, as well as the power, that come with Thomas Cromwell’s staggering portfolio of duties

The length of the book is justified by the number of events that it covers. The four years leading up to Cromwell’s demise made up one of the most turbulent periods in English history. Barely had Anne Boleyn been laid to rest than Henry had married wife number three, Jane Seymour. A year after the wedding, she gave him the son he so desperately craved (the future Edward VI) but died a few days later. The hunt was soon on for her replacement, and Cromwell was quickest off the mark. But while he had found the perfect diplomatic match in Anne of Cleves, he had disastrously misjudged the monarch’s willingness to set love aside in the interests of politics. This was not the end for Cromwell, but it did expose his vulnerability – and gave the Howards a chance to push forward a candidate of their own.

While Henry’s marital shenanigans were playing out, his kingdom was riven by dissent and rebellion, sparked by his sweeping religious changes – the dissolution of the monasteries in particular. Of acute concern to Cromwell was that it was his head for which the rebels were calling. But the greatest danger lay closer to home, in the myriad relationships with his fellow courtiers.

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As the narrative progresses, the distinction between allies and adversaries becomes increasingly blurred. Cromwell’s protégé Wriothesley (nicknamed ‘Call-Me’) is typical of the rapacious, self-serving politician whose loyalty was as flexible as his conscience. Cromwell’s ambiguous relationship with Princess Mary is particularly well drawn, starkly illustrating how easily trifling, innocent gestures could be twisted into treason.

Mantel gives new life to the well-rehearsed stories, but it is in shining a light on the minutiae of daily life in Henry’s court that she is at her most masterful. The research that underpins this novel is truly impressive. No detail is overlooked: from the names of individual servants and officials, to the weaving in of quotes from ambassadorial reports, trial papers, account books and other contemporary sources. Looking through the extensive cast of characters, only a handful are purely fictional, and all are impeccably researched.

As well as vividly evoking Thomas Cromwell and his world, this focus on the day-to-day business of serving the king helps to obscure what most readers will know is the inevitable conclusion. Realising from the outset that the protagonist will die would doom most books to failure. But Mantel’s achievement is to make us see everything as Cromwell would have seen it, to live each hour as he would have done – sometimes fearing, but never knowing for certain what was to come.

Tracy Borman is the author of Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful Servant (Hodder & Stoughton, 2014)

This review is from the April 2020 issue of BBC History Magazine – on sale 19 March 2020