Each leaf of a tree, the sun behind it, hangs like a golden pear. The clear untroubled light picks out each berry shimmering in a hedge. Later in that same opening chapter we feel the beauty of the season and English landscape as filtered through the consciousness of Cromwell: 'These days are perfect.

You know there will not be many more days like these so let us stand, the horseboys of Wolf Hall swarming around us, Wiltshire and the western counties stretching into a haze of blue let us stand, the king's hand on his shoulder, Henry's face earnest as he talks his way back through the landscape of the day, the green copses and rushing streams, the alders by the water's edge, the early haze that lifted by nine the brief shower, the small wind that died and settled the stillness, the afternoon heat.' You'll immediately recognize how much better fiction does at re-creating the feel of the English seasons, and how with such ease it can take us into the minds of the main characters, something films almost never do.Īs in, for example, the opening moments of the novel, when in September 1535, Henry (at age 44) and his entourage end one of the last days of the hunting season: 'Already you can feel the autumn. Start with Mantel's work, why don't you, while you're waiting for the first DVDs of 'The Tudors' to arrive. Then throw in 'The Other Boleyn Girl,' the fine film with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, add to the mix the prize-winning novel 'Wolf Hall,' by Hilary Mantel, and now include Mantel's stirring sequel to that novel, 'Bring Up the Bodies,' about Thomas Cromwell, the common-born manager of Henry's kingdom, and Cromwell's fight to defeat the scheming Boleyns.Īll told, you have something of a short course on the subject, perhaps something not as technically valuable as a tutorial led by a historian of the period, but something valuable nonetheless.Īnd it's a way to begin to open up this extraordinary historical period for yourself. Wait, wait, I know you're thinking what? But that's a lot of hours, and it moves beyond entertainment into thought-provoking discussions - at least in my household - of the nature of history, the power of kings, the social history of women, international politics and war. I watched all the hours of 'The Tudors' on disc. At least, I confess (without even the threat of the rack or disemboweling) that's how I came to acquire a rudimentary (and perhaps even something resembling a satisfactory grasp) of life among the Tudor kings, Henry VIII in particular. It's an odd way to get history, such as we get it these days, not just from actual historical studies, but from cable TV series and novels.

Author of bring up the bodies