human book, a dark mirror held up to our own world. And the fact that its conclusion takes place after the curtain has fallen only proves that
Hilary Mantel is one of our bravest as well as our most brilliant writers' Olivia Laing,
Observer'
A fascinating read, so good I rationed myself. It is remarkable and very learned; the texture is marvellously rich, the feel of Tudor London and the growing household of a man on the rise marvellously authentic. Characters real and imagined spring to life, from the childish and petulant King to Thomas Wolsey's jester, and
it captures the extrovert, confident, violent mood of the age wonderfully' C.J. Sansom, author of
The Shardlake Series'
A magnificent achievement: the scale of its vision and the fine stitching of its detail; the teeming canvas of characters; the style with its clipped but powerful immediacy; the wit, the poetry and the nuance' Sarah Dunant, author of
The Birth of Venus'A superb novel, beautifully constructed, and an absolutely compelling read. A novel of Tudor times which persuades us that we are there, at that moment, hungry to know what happens next.
It is the making of our English world, and who can fail to be stirred by it?' Helen Dunmore, author of
Birdcage Walk
