Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Book Review: Bring up the Bodies

The second of the proposed trilogy by Hilary Mantel is much more lucid to read. And took a lot less time to finish! 
Cromwell has made Anne queen and Henry has already started the break with the pope. Here Cromwell is at the peak of his power, in the king cannot do without him, and he is building strong enemies. 
Bring Up the Bodies starts with Anne at the helm of her own powers, as a queen who might still give England an heir. If only she could, history would have been different. But either the king's accident (he fell from a horse and was unconscious for a long time) or his relationship with Jane Seymour, already in the reckoning, caused the miscarriage of a 3 month old pregnancy, supposedly of a male fetus.
 The king is already enamoured of Jane Seymour, a polar opposite of Anne Boleyn, quiet, calm, meek, where Anne was quarrelsome and bold. After this miscarriage the king, with the help of Cromwell plots the downfall of Anne, with a web of stories, lies, deceits, until Anne is finally executed for adultery and high treason. 
The language takes one back to the era and it is as if one can see it happening in front of ones eyes. There is a sense of vindication, as Cromwell avenge the death and degradation of his one time master, cardinal Thomas Wolsey. 
Tight woven, descriptive and clever, this book deserves the booker as much as Wolf Hall did.

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