That night his fortunes had been in equipoise. In the room behind him, as he looked out over the harbour lights, he heard a woman’s throaty laughter, her soft ‘alhamdu lillah’ as she shook the ivory dice in her hand. He heard her spill them, heard them rattle and come to rest: ‘What is it?’ East is high. West is low. Gambling is not a vice, if you can afford to do it. ‘It is three and three.’ Is that low? You must say it is. Fate has not given him a shove, more of a gentle tap. ‘I shall go home.’
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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 Four. Chapter II. ‘Alas, What Shall I Do For Love?’ Spring, 1532, and the short Chapter III. Early Mass, November 1532.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 385–416
US Picador, pp. 354–385
US Henry Holt, pp. 314-340 (guide only, editions vary)
Ben Miles audiobook, 14:44:17–16:02:35
First Line: At John Petyt’s funeral…
Last Line: And in that hat there is a feather.
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest.
This week is the consummation of all we have worked for. We have new titles and new offices. There is music and dancing. We go to Calais with a fair wind, in search of a man with a memory machine. In the archives, Bea relives her first encounter with Henry and Cromwell in ink. In the haunting of Wolf Hall, we get up from our bed of phantoms and walk ourselves back into our past.
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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