Favourite writers - Hilary Mantel

 Gosh I am enjoying reading the last of the 'Wolf Hall' trilogy by Hilary Mantel! I am rigorously avoiding watching the BBC version which is running right now, and will watch it when I have finished. But I have to admit that the version of Thomas Cromwell that I have in my head looks an awful lot like Mark Rylance. I think he completely nailed the character in the first two books, and does him wonderfully. 

Mantel, who died in 2022, is a very good writer in all of her books, but in the Wolf Hall books I think she has matured into a great writer, and I would predict that of the popular writers in this century, she is one who will still be read later. It is really a shame that she did not have more time to add to this lovely later blossoming. 

The thing that I like most about her writing is that she does not let you see all the 'machinery' going on beneath the surface and takes great care that the work she has done simply comes to you as a page-turner with no obstacle to your turning. It does not shout 'Look at me!' or 'Did you see how clever I was there?' but everything works beautifully. 

She uses generally short sentences (I will quote some descriptions later) and never takes you up a garden path of over-description. You never have to go back and re-read for the meaning, and this shows not just a clear mastery, but probably also a lot of re-editing to get to that point. She has spent a lot of time on these books, and it shows. 

The book mainly takes place in palaces and houses, but as it is Thomas Cromwell - the man of many parts - he is just as likely to be helping his cook to skin some eels as putting the moral squeeze on a prisoner in the Tower. 

The narrative slips seamlessly from what people say to what they are thinking. Occasionally there will be a question asked and you notice that the speech marks have fallen away and it was thought but not said. 

She also presents you with very believable characters, possibly even historically accurate, but in any case rounded and whom you can imagine talking to. None more so than Cromwell himself, as he occupies the stage so much. He is ambitious, intelligent, not without his own beliefs in what is right, and fiercely interested in the world around him. He will talk to anyone, learn anything and both enjoy it and profit from it. There is a great description of him in the first book:

“His speech is low and rapid, his manner assured; he is at home in courtroom or waterfront, bishop’s palace or inn yard. He can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury. He will quote you a nice point in the old authors, from Plato to Plautus and back again. He knows new poetry, and can say it in Italian. He works all hours, first up and last to bed. He makes money and he spends it. He will take a bet on anything.”

And his entire life is a big bet on his own abilities. He knows the risks he runs, and as this is history I know how the story will end. But I still want to read the book first and then see it on screen. 

In fact I am reading Cro's copy of this book and she admitted she could not finish it because she did not want to let Cromwell go to his fate (no really spoiler here) because she felt bad after all the enjoyment that he (well Mantel's version of him) had given her. 

But I am resolute, and I know that Hilary Mantel will do it with greatness and style and life. And of course I do feel a little like Thomas in my own life story. Enjoy it because you are mortal, and some, like Thomas, with more reason to remember that.