Wolf Crawl #18: Pity no one

Enjoying Wolf Crawl? Join

Simon Haisell

and

Bea Stitches

at the

Wolf Hall Weekend

by the Tower of London on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June 2026. Expert panels and keynote talks from Tracy Borman, Diarmaid MacCulloch and Ben Miles. An exclusive performance of the stage adaptation of The Mirror and the Light. Great food, guided walks, and pastime with good company. We would love to see you there. Buy tickets here.

These dead women, their bones long sunk in London clay, are now transmigrated. Weightless, they slide on the upper currents of the air. They pity no one. They answer to no one. Their lives are simple. When they look down they see nothing but their prey, and the borrowed plumes of the hunters: they see a flittering, flinching universe, a universe filled with their dinner.

Last Week | Home Page | Reading Schedule
Further Resources: Hilary Mantel | Wolf Hall

Welcome to Week 18 of 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 & the Light.

Each week, I dive into the detail 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, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety.

I start each post with a summary of the week’s story illustrated by a map created by Matt Brown. This week we begin Bring Up the Bodies. Part One. Chapter I. Falcons. Wiltshire, September 1535.

In the UK Fourth Estate edition, this section runs from pages 1 to 35. In the US Picador edition, it runs from pages 3 to 30. It begins, “His children are falling from the sky.” It ends, “… looking out into England.”

This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest.

This week, it is game on for the chase, the hunt, the kill. We must practise our falconry and study old stones, for we may have one more fine day. Cromwell’s origins are under scrutiny, the education of women is discussed, and the board is set for the next match, Cromwell vs. Boleyn. In the archives,

Bea Stitches

is reading Cromwell’s amendments to marriage plans and an illegible correspondence between himself and the Duchess of Norfolk. In the haunting of Wolf Hall, we go in search of a magic net.

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.

To get these posts in your inbox or the Substack app, subscribe to Footnotes and Tangents and turn on notifications for ‘2025 Wolf Crawl’ in your subscription settings.