--- title: Hilary Mantel Continues Her Bloody Brilliant Tudor Saga With Bring Up the Bodies description: “What though I am a man of firmness and vigour, fortune is mutable and either my enemies will do me or my friends.” So muses... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7122577/hilary-mantel-continues-her-bloody-brilliant-tudor-saga-with-bring-up-the-bodies/ author: Rachel Syme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-05-09T10:45:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-22T05:58:01.205Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Hilary Mantel Continues Her Bloody Brilliant Tudor Saga With Bring Up the Bodies og:description: The sequel to the Booker Prize-winning hit, Wolf Hall og:url: https://time.com/archive/7122577/hilary-mantel-continues-her-bloody-brilliant-tudor-saga-with-bring-up-the-bodies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8081440c5a66bf1a/698a900e9862f5385689b6c4/bring-up-the-bodies.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: Bring Up the Bodies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hilary Mantel Continues Her Bloody Brilliant Tudor Saga With Bring Up the Bodies twitter:description: The sequel to the Booker Prize-winning hit, Wolf Hall twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8081440c5a66bf1a/698a900e9862f5385689b6c4/bring-up-the-bodies.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # Hilary Mantel Continues Her Bloody Brilliant Tudor Saga With Bring Up the Bodies > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Rachel Syme](https://time.com/author/rachel-syme/) May 9, 2012 10:45 AM UTC  by [Rachel Syme](https://time.com/author/rachel-syme/) May 9, 2012 10:45 AM UTC “What though I am a man of firmness and vigour, fortune is mutable and either my enemies will do me or my friends.” So muses narrator Thomas Cromwell in Hilary Mantel’s thrilling new historical novel _Bring Up the Bodies_, the sequel to her Booker Prize-winning hit, _Wolf Hall_. That book, too, came through the eyes of Cromwell, close advisor to King Henry VIII and chief architect of his first divorce, from Katherine of Aragon, and later of his far bloodier separation from Anne Boleyn. In Mantel’s care, Cromwell is a sensitive storyteller, as conscious of his own motivations as he is of other’s perceptions, accepting that history may paint him as more of a villain than a man of vigor. It is a prescient realization—Henry will later turn against Cromwell and order him executed for treason—but in the world of _Bring Up the Bodies_, he is still at the height of his powers, shaping the destiny of the king and the women who buzz around the monarch like hungry flies. (**READ:** [Booker Prize Winner Hilary Mantel](http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1928922,00.html)) Before _Wolf Hall_ was published, those who followed the bloody Tudor saga could muster little sympathy for Cromwell. He was, after all, the mastermind behind the dissolution of the Catholic church in England and the gory death of Henry’s second queen, all to satiate Henry’s carnal desires and hot pursuit of a male heir. It was Henry who wanted out, but it was Cromwell who found the way. Mantel brilliantly manages to find the humanity in his story; beyond power-grabbing and a killer instinct lies a man of deep complexity and reason, trying to do the best for his sovereign and his family at the same time. _Bring Up the Bodies_ continues from where _Wolf Hall_ ended; Henry has married the wily, mysterious Anne Boleyn, who has given birth to baby Elizabeth, but no male child. As he has no way of knowing that his daughter will go on to become one of the great English monarchs, Henry is in despair. He is also infatuated, with the young Jane Seymour, a fair girl of gentle breeding who serves as Anne’s lady-in-waiting and first flirts with Henry during his visit to her family’s home at Wolf Hall. Once besotted, the impetuous king wastes no time in making his desires known to his advisors, and it is up to Cromwell to concoct a clever plan to overthrow Anne. Cromwell and his cronies devise a way to accuse Anne of adultery and high treason; where she was once the most powerful woman in England, “she is tainted now, “ Cromwell remarks. “She is dead meat.” (**SPECIAL:** [The Best Books for Summer Reading](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2080867%5F2080832%5F2080835,00.html)) Anne’s fate is an old and familiar tale, but in Mantel’s hands, the tragedy of the Boleyn girl becomes something new. Mantel flushes out the ambiguities, the dark corners of doubt where Cromwell questions his own actions. In his world, nothing is clear, nothing is certain. When Katherine, Henry’s former bride, finally dies after years of being shoved aside, Cromwell realizes how very close England came to war and ruin on her account. “How close we hold our enemies!” he muses. “They are our families, our other selves.” The massive popularity of _Game of Thrones_ and its depiction of violent bloodlust for royal power makes _Bring up the Bodies_ an especially culture-relevant read, but Mantel’s novel deals with more than just heads on spikes and lusting in back rooms She moves beyond the gory legends and dives deeper, into the story of a man torn—between what is right and what he knows he must do—and how quickly one’s fate can change. Remembering his dead enemyThomas More, who was executed for defying the king in _Wolf Hall_, Cromwell says he thought More would eventually come around to the King’s divorce and Protestant ideals: “He was tenacious of the world, tenacious of his person, and had a good deal to live for.” But More died for his convictions—and someday, Cromwell will as well. In this game of thrones, having something to live for is one thing; knowing how to defend it is another. **LIST:** [All-TIME 100 Novels](http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/?iid=ent-main-feature#the-adventures-of-augie-march-1953-by-saul-bellow) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7122577/hilary-mantel-continues-her-bloody-brilliant-tudor-saga-with-bring-up-the-bodies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7122577/hilary-mantel-continues-her-bloody-brilliant-tudor-saga-with-bring-up-the-bodies/"},"headline":"Hilary Mantel Continues Her Bloody Brilliant Tudor Saga With Bring Up the Bodies","datePublished":"2012-05-09T10:45:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T05:58:01.205Z","description":"“What though I am a man of firmness and vigour, fortune is mutable and either my enemies will do me or my friends.” So muses...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7122577/hilary-mantel-continues-her-bloody-brilliant-tudor-saga-with-bring-up-the-bodies/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8081440c5a66bf1a/698a900e9862f5385689b6c4/bring-up-the-bodies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Syme","url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-syme/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8081440c5a66bf1a/698a900e9862f5385689b6c4/bring-up-the-bodies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bring Up the Bodies","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7122577/hilary-mantel-continues-her-bloody-brilliant-tudor-saga-with-bring-up-the-bodies/","name":"Hilary Mantel Continues Her Bloody Brilliant Tudor Saga With Bring Up the Bodies"}}]}] ```