Mirror and the Light Hilary Mantel....while I'm waiting

[CountessConstance]

I loved the first two of the Thomas Cromwell books; I cannot remember when I last was so engrossed in a book. It lived (lives) on in my head, in a way that few books do.

So, while I am waiting for the next one (please God, before August, so I can bring it on holidays) is there anything that you've found simultaneously, as stimulating and challenging, and yet a page-turning good read?

Oh yes, Seaweed, I cannot imagine carrying it on the Tube or train....and it's certainly not replacing Netflix in the bath.

Milkman is genius, Countess.

I imagine Hilary Mantel also feels under ferocious pressure to write a third novel that both lives up to the first two, and does Cromwell’s downfall and death justice. (Apparently she doesn’t write in chronological order — at least I think I’ve read this in more than one interview — and has already written his death.) So, no pressure...

Thanks for the warning. So March 2020.....seems a long time to wait but at least we have something to look forward to after Christmas!

Sorry to be a damp squid but I don’t think the new one comes out until 2020. At least that is what Waterstones are saying as they offer a preordering option.

I heard this a couple of weeks ago at an event, but was afraid to believe it. As someone who doesn't read series, ever, I don't know when I've been so happy to hear a confirmed date for a book.

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears is a book I found as compelling as Wolf Hall.

How difficult it must be for Hilary to snuff out the life of TC!

She said somewhere in an interview that she actually wrote his death fairly early on in the process of writing the third volume she doesn't write in chronological order so apparently TC has been 'dead' (again) for years already.

I saw her at the Oxford Lit Fest about five years ago, and she read some of the last page of The Mirror And The Light, and you could have heard a pin drop.It was Cromwell dying and he can hear a voice saying "So get up....." just like the opening page of the first book. I've been desperate to read it ever since! Roll on March!