But you, Thomas, you are not taken in by these Frenchmen, are you? He reassures him: my dear friend, not for one instant. Chapuys weeps; it’s unlike him: all credit to the noble wine. ‘I have failed my master the Emperor. I have failed Katherine.’ 'Never mind.’ He thinks, tomorrow is another battle, tomorrow is another world.
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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, Pat Barker’s Regeneration, and The Inheritors by William Golding.
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 Five. Chapter I. Anna Regina, 1533.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 462–483
US Picador, pp. 428–448
US Henry Holt, pp. 377-395 (guide only, editions vary)
Ben Miles audiobook, 17:46:17–18:36:45
First Line: Four days.
Last Line: …she puts her foot into the boat.
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest.
This week, we take stock of our great expectations and consider the symbols of crown and falcon. We give majestic side-eye to married priests and turn up our royal nose at the books within books. In the archives, Cromwell writes his remembrances on the back of a letter from the Tower, and his friend Stephen Vaughan is in correspondence. In the haunting of Wolf Hall, we examine our futures from the world below. We finish 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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