Wolf Crawl #43: The dogs of London

   No one came. The light was waning. He was not afraid of the old woman's ghost, but he was aware of company. In the smoke that still lingered, he could see certain shapes, low and slinking. At a distance but looping closer, the dogs of London.

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further resources: Hilary Mantel | Wolf Hall

Welcome to Week 43 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 delve 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, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower.

I start each post with a summary of the week’s story, illustrated by a map by Matt Brown. This week, we are reading Part Four. Chapter I. Nonsuch, Winter 1537–Spring 1538.

In the UK Fourth Estate edition, this section runs from pages 523 to 562. In the US Picador edition, it runs from pages 449 to 483. It begins, “‘My lord?’ a boy says. ‘A gravedigger is here.’” It ends, “…and the name of the palace is Nonsuch.”

This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, life gives us oranges, as Cromwell adjusts to the post-Jane world, weighing up the marriage prospects for his widower-king. There are burnings in the past and the present and dogs on the prowl. In the archives with Bea Stiches, we follow the paper trail of the wax baby.

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.