Phenomenal chapter, phenomenal write up. The moment Walter says, "So now get up!" was a jolt. I read the trilogy the first time as the books were released and didn't see that Mantel had brought us full circle. This time I FELT it. And to realize the poor beaten child we first met in WH had just become a murderer, it's a lot to process.
I notice the way that the bawdy song is reflected in the dialog between eel boy and Cromwell. Mantel shows that those drinking songs contain real horror.
Right! Re-reading this time unnerved me when we came to Henry singing the drinking song, oblivious of the memory it was switching on in Cromwell's mind.
I had a similar experience. And it circled my back to the last part where Cranmer (I almost typed Cranwell) calls Henry fatherly. So many feelings. It really is a lot. Mantel was a master. I don't think I appreciated it enough on my first read.
It's truly astonishing. The foreboding one feels at the end of the chapter, the final words "Five days, Wolf Hall." It sounds so ominous after the same final words of Wolf Hall signaled the change in fortunes for the Boleyns.
That hit me, too. In the US, PBS is airing the Wolf Hall the series - I'm guessing in preparation for The Mirror and the Light coming out. I had never seen it, so I've been watching it one episode a week. Sunday's was Cromwell making the plans to travel Wolf Hall - so this week's read felt even more unsettling - like time circling back and coming forward.
The pictures Mantel paints in this chapter are so vivid, I could not help but feel Cronwell's sickness and the heaviness he must have felt. The way Mantel ties books and stages of Cronwell's life together is genius. The way you let us see these connections in the story is done so well and I always look forward to these listen alongs, although I am getting more reluctant to come to the end!
This section is full of echoes, from Gardiner repeating the rumour that Cromwell was dead (and making use of Cromwell's time away as the eel boy did - thank you for pointing that out!) to that final "Five days. Wolf Hall." So much of it feels like replaying things that have gone before, but with very different outcomes. When Cromwell was struck down by fever in Wolf Hall it ended with the king coming to his house for dinner; now he returns to find Gardiner & Norfolk managing to set back the cause of the gospel.
"Every absent day he loses advantage. If kings do not see you they forget you. Even though nothing in the realm is done without you, kings think they do it all themselves."
"Better blame Norfolk, and bishops Gardiner, Stokesley and Sampson, than wonder aloud whether Henry is weak or duplicitous or incapable of seeing his own interest."
I also had a moment of clarity - near the start of this book I was struck by the increasing number of mentions of smells, but couldn't work out the significance. I now think it's because so much of the book is about memory, and smells are so evocative, pulling Cromwell’s restless mind back through time in the passage you quoted about memory ("the staleness of soiled straw and stagnant water, the hot grease of the smithy, horse sweat, leather, grass, yeast, tallow, honey, wet dog, spilled beer, the lanes and wharves of his childhood").
The smells - I hadn't caught that. Thanks for pointing it out.
So many echoes. The difference in his treatment post fever really stood out to me, too. Advantage gained the first time around and Advantage Lost this time. The first line of Wolf Hall and the last line of Wolf Hall show up in this section, too.
The beating looks different, but it's still a shock. It seems like a good time for him to skip town again.
Just a comment to say I'm loving your voice overs - they appear in my podcast feed and it's brilliant to catch your verbal thoughts about the sections we're reading - it's almost as if we're having a chat about the Wolf Hall Trilogy over a cup of tea in my living room!
Thank you, Yasmin! You don't know how appreciative to hear that. I'm going for cosy chat vibes. And I've recently invested in a fancy new microphone, so hopefully the quality on the last two recordings is noticeably better. Who'd have thought I'd be making my own podcasts!
Thank you, Yasmin! You don't know how appreciative to hear that. I'm going for cosy chat vibes. And I've recently invested in a fancy new microphone, so hopefully the quality on the last two recordings is noticeably better. Who'd have thought I'd be making my own podcasts!
The foreshadowing is getting to me. More and more dark turns in Crumb’s story and it’s making me impatient to get to the end. I am losing the struggle — already a week ahead.
Wow wow wow… for me, I think this has been the best chapter of the trilogy so far. It’s not often that reading a book makes me exclaim out loud (and with some robust language 😆) but this week that happened quite a lot. Interestingly, even when C finally examines his own memory to admit, if only to himself, what happened to the eel boy, I still don’t quite believe him. The eel boy impaled himself on the knife, did he Thomas? Sure. If you say so. Also, can we talk about hats and feathers? I feel the need to go back to the start and reconsider the MANY times they’ve come into play. There’s a whole dissertation in that. And plums! Who could imagine a paragraph on plums could be so marvellous. And of course, the bone-chilling, spine-tingling, “Five days. Wolf Hall.” It’s not really a Substack thing to say but, Oh-Em-Geeeee!!!
I've never trusted his own account of his own memory, he's been an unreliable narrator when it comes to his past. That's now beginning to affect his thinking in the present – he's missing meetings and letting his mind wander in the ones he attends. Dangerous!
Phenomenal chapter, phenomenal write up. The moment Walter says, "So now get up!" was a jolt. I read the trilogy the first time as the books were released and didn't see that Mantel had brought us full circle. This time I FELT it. And to realize the poor beaten child we first met in WH had just become a murderer, it's a lot to process.
I notice the way that the bawdy song is reflected in the dialog between eel boy and Cromwell. Mantel shows that those drinking songs contain real horror.
Right! Re-reading this time unnerved me when we came to Henry singing the drinking song, oblivious of the memory it was switching on in Cromwell's mind.
Wow! Thank you for highlighting the circle we have traipsed.
I had a similar experience. And it circled my back to the last part where Cranmer (I almost typed Cranwell) calls Henry fatherly. So many feelings. It really is a lot. Mantel was a master. I don't think I appreciated it enough on my first read.
It's truly astonishing. The foreboding one feels at the end of the chapter, the final words "Five days, Wolf Hall." It sounds so ominous after the same final words of Wolf Hall signaled the change in fortunes for the Boleyns.
That hit me, too. In the US, PBS is airing the Wolf Hall the series - I'm guessing in preparation for The Mirror and the Light coming out. I had never seen it, so I've been watching it one episode a week. Sunday's was Cromwell making the plans to travel Wolf Hall - so this week's read felt even more unsettling - like time circling back and coming forward.
It feels like walking through a hall of mirrors. Or maybe that wood of Cromwell's, with mirrors hanging between the trees.
The pictures Mantel paints in this chapter are so vivid, I could not help but feel Cronwell's sickness and the heaviness he must have felt. The way Mantel ties books and stages of Cronwell's life together is genius. The way you let us see these connections in the story is done so well and I always look forward to these listen alongs, although I am getting more reluctant to come to the end!
I almost wish I did not know how it all ended - the slow build up of dread is quite torturous!
I seem to have created an evil torture device for readers!
Very Richard Riche of you ;)
This section is full of echoes, from Gardiner repeating the rumour that Cromwell was dead (and making use of Cromwell's time away as the eel boy did - thank you for pointing that out!) to that final "Five days. Wolf Hall." So much of it feels like replaying things that have gone before, but with very different outcomes. When Cromwell was struck down by fever in Wolf Hall it ended with the king coming to his house for dinner; now he returns to find Gardiner & Norfolk managing to set back the cause of the gospel.
"Every absent day he loses advantage. If kings do not see you they forget you. Even though nothing in the realm is done without you, kings think they do it all themselves."
"Better blame Norfolk, and bishops Gardiner, Stokesley and Sampson, than wonder aloud whether Henry is weak or duplicitous or incapable of seeing his own interest."
I also had a moment of clarity - near the start of this book I was struck by the increasing number of mentions of smells, but couldn't work out the significance. I now think it's because so much of the book is about memory, and smells are so evocative, pulling Cromwell’s restless mind back through time in the passage you quoted about memory ("the staleness of soiled straw and stagnant water, the hot grease of the smithy, horse sweat, leather, grass, yeast, tallow, honey, wet dog, spilled beer, the lanes and wharves of his childhood").
Great observations, especially that asymmetry between his two bouts of illness, and the link between smell and memory.
The smells - I hadn't caught that. Thanks for pointing it out.
So many echoes. The difference in his treatment post fever really stood out to me, too. Advantage gained the first time around and Advantage Lost this time. The first line of Wolf Hall and the last line of Wolf Hall show up in this section, too.
The beating looks different, but it's still a shock. It seems like a good time for him to skip town again.
Just a comment to say I'm loving your voice overs - they appear in my podcast feed and it's brilliant to catch your verbal thoughts about the sections we're reading - it's almost as if we're having a chat about the Wolf Hall Trilogy over a cup of tea in my living room!
Thank you, Yasmin! You don't know how appreciative to hear that. I'm going for cosy chat vibes. And I've recently invested in a fancy new microphone, so hopefully the quality on the last two recordings is noticeably better. Who'd have thought I'd be making my own podcasts!
Thank you, Yasmin! You don't know how appreciative to hear that. I'm going for cosy chat vibes. And I've recently invested in a fancy new microphone, so hopefully the quality on the last two recordings is noticeably better. Who'd have thought I'd be making my own podcasts!
The foreshadowing is getting to me. More and more dark turns in Crumb’s story and it’s making me impatient to get to the end. I am losing the struggle — already a week ahead.
And there I was thinking: maybe I should read slower to delay the inevitable?
Me too. I find myself avoiding it a little - even though I love it.
Wow wow wow… for me, I think this has been the best chapter of the trilogy so far. It’s not often that reading a book makes me exclaim out loud (and with some robust language 😆) but this week that happened quite a lot. Interestingly, even when C finally examines his own memory to admit, if only to himself, what happened to the eel boy, I still don’t quite believe him. The eel boy impaled himself on the knife, did he Thomas? Sure. If you say so. Also, can we talk about hats and feathers? I feel the need to go back to the start and reconsider the MANY times they’ve come into play. There’s a whole dissertation in that. And plums! Who could imagine a paragraph on plums could be so marvellous. And of course, the bone-chilling, spine-tingling, “Five days. Wolf Hall.” It’s not really a Substack thing to say but, Oh-Em-Geeeee!!!
Yes to all of this!
These books just amaze me. Thank you so much for introducing them to me.
Cromwell's instinct is spot on: never miss a meeting! Cromwell's brain being unruly is new. He had such control of memory.
I've never trusted his own account of his own memory, he's been an unreliable narrator when it comes to his past. That's now beginning to affect his thinking in the present – he's missing meetings and letting his mind wander in the ones he attends. Dangerous!