The Mirror and the Light

Hilary Mantel and Ben Miles’ exhilarating stage adaptation of The Mirror and the Light , one of 2021’s must-see theatrical events, and the long awaited conclusion to the Oliver Award-winning Wolf Hall Trilogy. England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn’s fate has been sealed by a hired French executioner. it now befalls Jane Seymour to deliver King Henry VIII the healthy heir he craves. Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son from the gutters of Putney, has knocked down everyone in his path: established at the right hand of the king, he is now the second most powerful man in England. But what will you do, an astute witness asks, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? Hilary Mantel’s twice Booker Prize-winning trilogy is the outstanding literary achievement of recent times. Following Oliver and Tony Award-winning productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies , hailed as a landmark and must-see theatrical event on both sides of the Atlantic, Mantel and Ben Miles have adapted the trilogy’s exhilarating conclusion, The Mirror and the Light , for the stage. It opened in London’s West End in September 2021, directed by Jeremy Herring, co-produced by Playful Productions and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and with Miles returning to the role of Cromwell. This volume contains the text of the play and an introduction by Hilary Mantel on each of the principal characters – and their fates, offering a unique insight into her trilogy and an invaluable resource to any theatre companies wishing to stage the play.

Soon to be a major TV series The Sunday Times bestseller Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the Booker Prize ‘It is a book not read, but lived’ Telegraph ‘Her Cromwell novels are, for my money, the greatest English novels of this century’ Observer The bestselling sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies , the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall trilogy. ‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’ England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? With The Mirror and the Light , Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies . She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage. A Guardian Book of the Year • A Times Book of the Year • A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year • A Sunday Times Book of the Year • A New Statesman Book of the Year • A Spectator Book of the Year Sunday Times Bestseller (08/03/2020)

Hilary Mantel and Ben Miles’ exhilarating stage adaptation of The Mirror and the Light , one of 2021’s must-see theatrical events, and the long awaited conclusion to the Oliver Award-winning Wolf Hall Trilogy. England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn’s fate has been sealed by a hired French executioner. it now befalls Jane Seymour to deliver King Henry VIII the healthy heir he craves. Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son from the gutters of Putney, has knocked down everyone in his path: established at the right hand of the king, he is now the second most powerful man in England. But what will you do, an astute witness asks, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? Hilary Mantel’s twice Booker Prize-winning trilogy is the outstanding literary achievement of recent times. Following Oliver and Tony Award-winning productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies , hailed as a landmark and must-see theatrical event on both sides of the Atlantic, Mantel and Ben Miles have adapted the trilogy’s exhilarating conclusion, The Mirror and the Light , for the stage. It opened in London’s West End in September 2021, directed by Jeremy Herring, co-produced by Playful Productions and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and with Miles returning to the role of Cromwell. This volume contains the text of the play and an introduction by Hilary Mantel on each of the principal characters – and their fates, offering a unique insight into her trilogy and an invaluable resource to any theatre companies wishing to stage the play.

Soon to be a major TV series The Sunday Times bestseller Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the Booker Prize ‘It is a book not read, but lived’ Telegraph ‘Her Cromwell novels are, for my money, the greatest English novels of this century’ Observer The bestselling sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies , the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall trilogy. ‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’ England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? With The Mirror and the Light , Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies . She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage. A Guardian Book of the Year • A Times Book of the Year • A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year • A Sunday Times Book of the Year • A New Statesman Book of the Year • A Spectator Book of the Year Sunday Times Bestseller (08/03/2020)