All around him there are signs of unease, little huddles of courtiers that disperse at his approach. If he is to place all in hazard, and he thinks he is, then Gregory should not have to go through the pain and doubt, hour by hour. Let him hear the conclusion of events; he does not need to live through them.
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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, The Inheritors by William Golding and Treacle Walker by Alan Garner.
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 final third of Part Two. Chapter I. The Black Book. London, January–April 1536.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 255–287
US Picador, pp. 214–241
US Henry Holt, pp. 214-241 (guide only, editions vary)
Ben Miles audiobook, 8:30:14–9:37:45
First Line: William Fitzwilliam comes to the Rolls House…
Last Line: …if I stopped to think how I was doing it I couldn’t do it at all.
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest.
This week, as Mount Etna erupts, Master Secretary puts all in hazard. Cromwell is compared to the wicked councillor Haman, and Chapuys is tricked into bending the knee. In the archives, Bea Stitches reads a shouty missive from Uncle Norfolk. In the haunting of Wolf Hall, Master Skeleton sets the table to butcher the Boleyns.
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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