But he is crying again. The ghosts are gathering, he feels cold, his position is irretrievable. In Italy he learned a memory system, so he can remember everything: every stage of how he got here.
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Welcome to Wolf Crawl. I am your guide, Simon Haisell, and this is a year-long slow read of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy: Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light.
Each week, I dive into the details, with summaries, background, footnotes and tangents to enrich your reading. I am joined on this journey by Bea Stitches, who delves into the archive on our behalf, and Matt Brown, who makes maps to help us find our way through Cromwell’s world.
You can find the reading schedule and plot summaries for the full cast of characters on my website, Footnotes and Tangents. There, you can join other slow reads, including Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie and Pat Barker’s Regeneration.
I start each post with a summary of the week’s story, illustrated by a map created by Matt Brown. This week, we are reading Part Two. Chapter III. Make or Mar, All Hallows 1529 and Part Three. Chapter I. Three-Card Trick, Winter 1529–Spring 1530.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 154–197
US Picador, pp. 142–182
US Henry Holt, pp. 126-162 (guide only, editions vary)
Ben Miles audiobook, 5:45:56–7:22:56
First Line: Halloween: the world’s edge seeps and bleeds.
Last Line: ‘— sit down with the Boleyns.’
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, we look at Cromwell’s confidence trick, his grief at Esher, and the art of memory. Then we meet Rafe Sadler in the archives with Bea Stitches, and we meet the gathering ghosts in the haunting of Wolf Hall. We close with my favourite quote of the week.
And then it is over to you. In the comments, let us know what caught your eye and ask the group any questions you may have. And if you’ve tumbled down a rabbit hole or taken your reading off on a tangent, please share where you have been and what you have found.
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