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  • The Mirror and the Light

  • The Wolf Hall Trilogy, Book 3
  • By: Hilary Mantel
  • Narrated by: Ben Miles
  • Length: 38 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (344 ratings)

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The Mirror and the Light

By: Hilary Mantel
Narrated by: Ben Miles
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Publisher's Summary

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020

The long-awaited sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning Thomas Cromwell 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. 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.

©2020 Hilary Mantel (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic Reviews

“You’ll frequently hit the rewind button to fully appreciate the many, many perfect passages.” (Irish Times)

“Actor Ben Miles played Cromwell in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, making him the perfect choice to narrate the remarkable final instalment in the Man Booker Prize-winning trilogy.” (Vogue)

What listeners say about The Mirror and the Light

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  • Overall
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Magnificent in every way.

I loved the voice that Ben Miles gives to Cromwell. Acknowledging his blacksmith origins in Putney yet rising so far beyond them. A great mind, a complex man, a glittering and brutal world.

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2 people found this helpful

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Excellent, but the Audible narration brilliant

Mantel is not only a brilliant writer but Ben Miles caps it off. How Ben is able to bring to life the characters with such professionalism is just amazing. It is like theatre without going to a theatre.

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Amazing

This final part of the Wolf Hall trilogy completes the extraordinary story of Thomas Cromwell. You live and breath with the great man, right to the very end. I’m devastated it has come to an end. Absolutely amazing. I can’t recommend The Mirror and the Light enough!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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The snake pit

A great meandering tale through the uncertain and deadly world of Henry the V111, where to rise high makes the fall even greater

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Masterpiece

I loved it, cried with Rafe Sadler and Christophe. Hilary Mantel, for another Man Booker prize.

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  • Jac
  • 23-02-2022

Maybe best book in trilogy

So far I’ve read the first 2 volumes and listened to Ben Miles reading the third. All are compelling. A second reading really added to my understanding and pleasure as I expect will listening to the audiobook of the third volume again.
Can’t recommend the trilogy strongly enough, however you access it. Do.

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Magnificent series.

Mantel wrote this trilogy specifically to be heard. The audio books make it much easier to understand her style of writing.
A deep dive into the life of a man who changed the course of history, and a detailed description of the times in which he lived.

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  • P
  • 17-04-2020

BRILLIANT NOVEL AND NARRATOR

I thorough enjoyed both the richness of Hilary Mantel's prose along with the wisdom of Ben Miles' narration. He manages to very subtly evoke a variety of voices and perspectives without ever sounding affected.
I was completely astonished to read some people's criticism of his performance. It was both authentic and insightful.
When listening to this work, one feels to be in the hands of two remarkable artists.

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3 people found this helpful

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Excellent writing, equaled by excellent narration

Lengthy but compelling. Excellent writing enhanced by superb narration by Ben Miles. Thanks- thoroughly enjoyed it. Clinton Anderson

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Loved it

Amazing trilogy. You are transported to Henry the eight’s time. So enjoyable,Ben Miles narration outstanding. Will have trouble finding another so transfixing.

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