Bring up the Bodies

Hilary Mantel

“The word 'however' is like an imp coiled beneath your chair. It induces ink to form words you have not yet seen, and lines to march across the page and overshoot the margin. There are no endings. If you think so you are deceived as to their nature. They are all beginnings. Here is one.”

One of the best one-two punches in English literature is when Hilary Mantel dropped Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies and proceeded to win the Booker prize for both, the only time in history this has happened to an author for the same series. Bring up the Bodies is Wolf Hall’s hot younger sibling, the novel is one of the most well done and satisfying revenge stories that I have ever been told.

I was in awe of the skill of the author whilst I was reading this, knowing that I would experience a master story teller of this calibre only a handful more times throughout my life, this is the top 0.1% of the top 1% of literature. Cromwell’s tale of vengeance on those who humiliated his mentor, combined with the plausible deniability of the true turn of events are the core values of this project. I love this book and I am sad most people will not read it.