Do you know why they say, ‘There’s no smoke without fire?’ It’s not just to give encouragement to people who like fires. It’s a satement about the danger of chimneys, but also about the courts of kings – or any space where trapped air circulates, choking on itself. A spark catches a particle of falling soot: with a crackle, the matter ignites: with a roar, the flames fly skywards, and within minutes the palace is ablaze.
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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 navigate 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 The Children’s Book by AS Byatt.
I start each post with a summary of the week’s story, illustrated by a map by Matt Brown. This week, we read the first half of Part One. Chapter III. Wreckage (II). London, Summer 1536.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 167–209
US Picador, pp. 141–177
First line: Do you know why they say, ‘There’s no smoke without fire?’
Last line: He says, ‘You must learn to use my title, madam.’
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, Cromwell considers the lives of women, Mary’s former saints, and Stephen Gardiner’s pupil, Thomas Wriothesley. We all vow never to write verse, nor speak ill of the dead. Then in the archive with Bea Stitches, we examine a duke’s diet and Cromwell’s correct form of address.
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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