5/23/2023 0 Comments The mirror and the light seriesRumours abound that Cromwell may be seeking to promote himself by winning Mary’s confidence even, that he may wish to marry her. But Cromwell’s status in this novel is slowly transforming from the indispensable secretary of the first two volumes, to the hapless prisoner awaiting execution. As always, Cromwell must insert himself between the king and his worst impulses. Like Thomas More, Mary Tudor, the king’s daughter, is in danger of losing her head if she refuses to swear the oath confirming Henry as head of the English church. In between, Mantel dramatizes England’s struggle with its newly forming religious identity (anti-papist yet also eschewing Luther) and the attendant political manoeuvrings that this entails. It begins with the aftermath of Anne Boleyn’s beheading and concludes with Cromwell’s own execution. The Mirror and the Light is the final volume of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy.
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