Another man would go to Leicester to see where he died and talk to the abbot. Another man would have trouble imagining it, but he has no trouble. The red of a carpet’s ground, the flush of the robin’s breast or the chaffinch, the red of a wax seal or the heart of the rose: implanted in his landscape, cered in his inner eye, and caught in the glint of a ruby, in the colour of blood, the cardinal is alive and speaking. Look at my face: I am not afraid of any man alive.
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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 the second half of Part Three. Chapter II. Entirely Beloved Cromwell, Spring–December 1530.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 236–271
US Picador, pp. 218–250
US Henry Holt, pp. 194-222 (guide only, editions vary)
Ben Miles audiobook, 8:53:22–10:17:16
First Line: Mary Shelton is in attendance; she looks up, simpers.
Last Line: ‘Leave a space.’
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest.
This week, we are considering a succession of sorts, a burning prophecy, the English longbow and Thomas Cranmer. We pry into Wolsey’s last days at Cawood in the archives with Bea Stitches and follow him into the shadow country 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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