Bring Up the Bodies

“Mantel knows what to select, how to make her scenes vivid, how to kindle her characters. She seems almost incapable of abstraction or fraudulence; she instinctively grabs for the reachably real…In short, this novelist has the maddeningly unteachable gift of being interesting.” The New Yorker

“…astringent and purifying, stripping away the cobwebs and varnish of history, the antique formulations and brocaded sentimentality of costume drama novels, so that the English past comes to seem like something vivid, strange and brand new.” The New York Times Book Review

“Two years ago something astonishingly fair happened in the world of prestigious prizes: the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction for 2009 both went to the right winner. The book was Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” and it would have dwarfed the competition any year… It was a hard act to follow. But the follow-up is equally sublime… That ironic ending will be no cliffhanger for anyone even remotely familiar with Henry VIII’s trail of carnage. But in “Bring Up the Bodies “it works as one. The wonder of Ms. Mantel’s retelling is that she makes these events fresh and terrifying all over again.” The New York Times

“”Bring Up the Bodies” isn’t just her boldest book; it’s also her best – and it reaffirms Mantel’s reputation as one of England’s greatest living novelists.” NPR

“Hilary Mantel made waves in 2009 with her Man Booker Prize-winning page-turner, “Wolf Hall.”. The second in her planned trilogy, “Bring Up the Bodies” stalks Anne Boleyn and the soap-opera worthy machinations of Cromwell and his evil allies to bring down the powerful wife of the king. Who knew history could be so sexy?” Vanity Fair