In the end, Anne and several of her circle, including her brother, are tried and put to death. And though he is not sure all of the evidence is true, he has gone so far in the matter that he cannot turn back. Mindful that many of those closest to Anne helped ruin his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, Cromwell relishes the opportunity to bring them down. With proof enough to have her tried for treason, the King is willing to see Anne destroyed to serve his ends. The musician, Mark Smeaton, and Anne's sister-in-law, Lady Rochford, pass on rumours to this effect. The more he does, the more he hears she's been unfaithful to the King. Wiltshire is willing to negotiate Rochford is not, and tells Cromwell that if Anne's marriage to the King endures he will 'make short work of you.'Ĭromwell talks to those close to Anne. Cromwell vows to make this happen.Įver the dealmaker, Cromwell tries to negotiate a separation through Anne's father, Wiltshire, and her brother, Rochford. He has tired of Anne, who brings him neither peace nor a son, and wants his marriage ended. 'I cannot live as I have lived,' Henry finally tells Cromwell in private.

The King spends time with Jane Seymour and begins to fall in love his marriage to the new queen, Anne Boleyn, is sometimes loving but often descends into angry quarrels. Cromwell himself is attracted to the Seymours' daughter Jane. The King and Cromwell-now Master Secretary to the King's Privy Council-are guests of the Seymour family at Wolf Hall. The final novel in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, was published in March 2020.īring Up the Bodies follows closely upon the events of Wolf Hall. It won the 2012 Booker Prize and the 2012 Costa Book of the Year.

Bring Up the Bodies is an historical novel by Hilary Mantel sequel to the award-winning Wolf Hall and part of a trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII.

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