The Mirror and the Light

The Mirror & The Light is a historical novel by English writer Hilary Mantel. Following "Wolf Hall" (2009) and "Bring Up the Bodies" (2012), it is the final instalment in her trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, minister in the court of King Henry VIII, covering the last four years of his life, from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540.
Mantel's twelfth novel, her first in almost eight years, "The Mirror & The Light" was published in March 2020 to widespread critical acclaim, and enjoyed brisk sales. In December 2020, Emily Temple of Literary Hub reported that the novel had made 13 lists of the best books of 2020.
Plot.
"The Mirror & The Light" covers the period following the death of Anne Boleyn in 1536. It documents Cromwell’s ascent to the pinnacle of his riches and power, followed by his fall from royal favour and his public execution at Tower Hill in 1540.
Publication.
Though Mantel had originally hoped to publish the book in 2018, it did not appear until March 2020. Mantel dismissed speculation the novel had been delayed due to writer’s block, distractions caused by stage and screen adaptations of her previous novels, or because she couldn’t bring herself to write Cromwell's execution scene. Saying the project had simply been difficult, Mantel added, "But that’s not an explanation that has any news value, so people are looking for a dramatic story of the whole process breaking down.”
When it was published in the UK on 5 March 2020, bookstores opened at midnight to sell the title. Initial UK sales were brisk, with over 95,000 copies sold in the first three days. Henry Holt and Company published the US edition five days later, on 10 March 2020.
Reception.
"The Mirror and the Light" received mostly laudatory reviews from critics. The "New York Times" called it "the triumphant capstone to Mantel’s trilogy," the "Financial Times" called it "majestic and often breathtakingly poetic," and the "Washington Post" called it a "masterful finale." The "Times Literary Supplement" called it "some of the most complex and immersive fiction to have come along in years," while the "Guardian" hailed it as a "masterpiece" and called Mantel's Cromwell trilogy "the greatest English novels of this century." The "Los Angeles Times" called Mantel "unique among modern novelists in her ability to make the past as viscerally compelling as the present," "USA Today" said that "every page is rich with insight," and the "Wall Street Journal" called her Cromwell trilogy "a brilliant engagement with the exercise and metaphysics of power in 16th-century Europe." However, the "New Yorker" criticised the lengthy novel (754 pages in its US edition), calling it "a bloated and only occasionally captivating work."
"The Mirror and the Light" was shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction.