I am reading Bring Up The Bodies, by Hilary Mantel. She has won two Booker Prizes.She won her first with Wolf Hall. Bring Up The Bodies provided the second. I read Wolf Hall around ten years ago, sadly I can’t truthfully say that I enjoyed it. Mantel uses the device of reserving the personal pronoun “he” exclusively for her main protagonist, Thomas Cromwell. However her device is not immediately obvious. Therefore, when you have a room full of men, and he is saying such and such, or he gazes out of the window, you have to have been let in on the secret of who he is, or have realised that it is a device, a puzzle perhaps, and solved it yourself.
I submitted all four of my Sir Anthony Standen Adventures to Kirkus for review. Virginia Kirkus founded a book review magazine in 1933. It is based in New York. You can read what they have said about my books on my reviews page, or directly from their website. What Kirkus have to say about the Mantel books accords very much with my own view. Kirkus say this about Wolf Hall: “Masterfully written and researched but likely to appeal mainly to devotees of all things Tudor.” Their verdict on Bring Up The Bodies is similar: “The inventiveness of Mantel’s language is the chief draw here; the plot, as such, will engage only the most determined of Tudor enthusiasts.”
Her language is her standout quality. As I read, I highlight the passages which I admire. I hope to learn from her mastery, even if I need to keep looking up obscure words. Mystery is completely missing. Nothing gets you wondering what will happen, unless you slept through history lessons at school. Neither is there a theme that we can translate to our own world. I can’t help comparing her to C.J. Sansom, and finding Sansom infinitely more compelling.There are webs of mystery, and themes to consider in our own lives. I find his language equally beautiful without needing to refer to the dictionary.
You may wonder what Kirkus have to say about C.J. Sansom. Revelation is my favourite so far, and this is how Kirkus sum it up: “Shardlake’s fourth adventure is packed with fascinating historical detail and contemporary lessons. The mystery is cleverly woven, and slowly building tension will keep readers involved until the denouement.” Sansom hasn’t won one Booker Prize, let alone two. He has won the Crime Writers Association (CWA) Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award. I can only conclude that greatness is in the eye of the reader.