Bring Up the Bodies

by Hilary Mantel

Part of Thomas Cromwell, book 2

First published 2012

The year is 1535. Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith's son turned King Henry VIII's powerful Chief Minister, is caught in a deadly game of court politics. As Anne Boleyn fails to produce a male heir, Henry's roving eye lands on the quiet Jane Seymour. Cromwell must maneuver through the gossip and sexual tensions of the Tudor court to satisfy the king and secure his own future. The stakes are high - England's isolation, Cromwell's career, and the bloody end of Anne's reign. In this gripping sequel to Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel masterfully depicts the fall of a queen and the rise of a commoner who wields immense influence in the Tudor court.

Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, political-thriller, historical-drama

Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: court-intrigue, enemies-to-lovers

Setting: London, Whitehall Palace, Wiltshire, Great Britain, Kimbolton, Norfolk, Surrey, Jersey, Suffolk, Northumberland, Canterbury, Winchester, Antwerp, Exeter, Essex

Period: 1509-1547, 1535

411 pages · Hardcover · Fourth Estate

More by Hilary Mantel

• A Memoir of My Former Self
• Wolf Hall
• The Mirror & the Light
• The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
• A Place of Greater Safety
• The Giant, O'Brien
• Fludd
• An Experiment in Love

Readers who liked Bring Up the Bodies also liked

• The Boleyn Inheritance
• Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies
• The Marriage Game
• Katheryn Howard
• Boleyn Traitor
• Holbein