A review by larabavery
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Why am I gripped by the fate of a lesser known historical figure, whose story I already knew? Why do snatches of the childhood of an English blacksmith’s son make me think of my own? Why did it take me five months to get through this book, and why did I weep when I finished it? This conclusion to the Wolf Hall series—and the whole trilogy in general—is less like reading a novel and more like entering another world. But it’s not effortless; you are never passively reading this story. You feel a part of it. You are carrying the weight of a consciousness, filled with everything from the price of wheat to the implications of replacing Catholicism with a new world order to the stink of the Thames. When you finish this book, you are not just closing the cover on a fictional world, it feels like you are letting go of someone you know.