Awards

• Shortlisted for Costa Novel Award 2012.
• Shortlisted for Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2012.
• Winner of Costa Book of the Year 2012.
• Winner of Costa Novel Award 2012.
• Winner of Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2012.

Overview

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2012 With this historic win for BRING UP THE BODIES, Hilary Mantel becomes the first British author and the first woman to be awarded two Man Booker Prizes, as well as being the first to win with two consecutive novels. Continuing what began in the Man Booker Prize-winning WOLF HALL, we return to the court of Henry VIII, to witness the irresistible rise of Thomas Cromwell as he contrives the destruction of Anne Boleyn. By 1535 Cromwell is Chief Minister to Henry, his fortunes having risen with those of Anne Boleyn. But the split from the Catholic Church has left England dangerously isolated, and Anne has failed to give the king an heir. Cromwell watches as Henry falls for plain Jane Seymour. Negotiating the politics of the court, Cromwell must find a solution that will satisfy Henry, safeguard the nation and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge unscathed from the bloody theatre of Anne's final days. An astounding literary accomplishment, BRING UP THE BODIES is the story of this most terrifying moment of history, by one of our greatest living novelists.

Full Product Details

Author:   Hilary Mantel
Publisher:   HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint:   Fourth Estate Ltd
Weight:   0.640kg
ISBN:  

9780007353583

ISBN 10:   0007353588
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   10 May 2012
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Picks up the body parts where Wolf Hall left off ... literary invention does not fail her: she's as deft and verbally adroit as ever, Margaret Atwood, Guardian 'Bring Up The Bodies succeeds brilliantly in every particle of this: it,s an imaginative achievement to exhaust superlatives, The Spectator 'Historical novel? Of course, and probably the best to be published since Wolf Hall ' Andrew Motion, The Times 'Mantel,s genius in the retelling of this oft-told tale is her knack of reaching inside people,s heads into the nooks and crannies of their thoughts, seeing what many others don,t ... I hesitate to use the term 'genius, but ..., Kathy Stevenson, Daily Mail 'Bring Up The Bodies should net its author another Booker Prize, Amanda Craig, New Statesman 'Where much historical fiction gets entangled in the simulation of historical authenticity, Mantel bypasses those knots of concoction, and proceeds as if authenticity were magic rather than a science. She knows that what gives fiction its vitality is not the accurate detail but the animate one, and that novelists are creators, not coroners, of the human case ... In short, this novelist has the maddeningly unteachable gift of being interesting., James Wood, The New Yorker '...a magnificent encore from first page to last, Mail on Sunday 'An outstandingly good read ... Fans of 'Wolf Hall, will relish this book, but Bring Up the Bodies also stands alone, The Economist 'This is a great novel of dark and dirty passions, public and private. It is also an exploration of what still shocks us... A truly great story, it rolls on., James Naughtie, FT 'There is no sense in which Bring Up the Bodies is a simple follow-up or continuation of Wolf Hall. More then most, Mantel is a committed revolutionary novelist, TLS

Praise for Wolf Hall: 'This is a beautiful and profoundly human book, a dark mirror held up to our own world!Proves that Hilary Mantel is one of our bravest as well as our most brilliant writers.' Olivia Laing, Observer 'As soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret that the story was over, a regret I still feel. This is a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle.' The Times 'Mantel is a writer who sees the skull beneath the skin, the worm in the bud, the child abuse in the suburbs and the rat in the mattress!Turning her attention to Tudor England, she makes that world at once so concrete you can smell the rain-drenched wool cloaks!This is a splendidly ambitious book!I wait greedily for the sequel, but Wolf Hall is already a feast.' Daily Telegraph 'A compelling and humane investigation of the cost of ambition.' Guardian 'Mantel's ability to pick out vivid scenes from sources and give them life within her fiction is quite exceptional!Vividly alive.' London Review of Books 'A stunning book. It breaks free of what the novel has become nowadays. I can't think of anything since Middlemarch which so convincingly builds a world.' Diana Athill

'Picks up the body parts where Wolf Hall left off ... literary invention does not fail her: she's as deft and verbally adroit as ever' Margaret Atwood, Guardian 'Bring Up The Bodies succeeds brilliantly in every particle of this: it's an imaginative achievement to exhaust superlatives' The Spectator 'Historical novel? Of course, and probably the best to be published since Wolf Hall ' Andrew Motion, The Times 'Mantel's genius in the retelling of this oft-told tale is her knack of reaching inside people's heads into the nooks and crannies of their thoughts, seeing what many others don't ... I hesitate to use the term 'genius' but ...' Kathy Stevenson, Daily Mail 'Bring Up The Bodies should net its author another Booker Prize' Amanda Craig, New Statesman 'Where much historical fiction gets entangled in the simulation of historical authenticity, Mantel bypasses those knots of concoction, and proceeds as if authenticity were magic rather than a science. She knows that what gives fiction its vitality is not the accurate detail but the animate one, and that novelists are creators, not coroners, of the human case ... In short, this novelist has the maddeningly unteachable gift of being interesting.' James Wood, The New Yorker '...a magnificent encore from first page to last' Mail on Sunday 'An outstandingly good read ... Fans of 'Wolf Hall' will relish this book, but Bring Up the Bodies also stands alone' The Economist 'This is a great novel of dark and dirty passions, public and private. It is also an exploration of what still shocks us... A truly great story, it rolls on.' James Naughtie, FT 'There is no sense in which Bring Up the Bodies is a simple follow-up or continuation of Wolf Hall. More then most, Mantel is a committed revolutionary novelist' TLS

Karen writes: This second volume of Mantel's trilogy about Thomas Cromwell is simply brilliant and like Wolf Hall will ruin everything read by other authors for a few months because they will pale in comparison. I've read a few of Mantels other novels and whilst excellent, simply don't compare with the sheer sparkling genius of Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies. The story is about the few months before Anne Boleyn's beheading. As fat old Henry Tudor, bloated with as much power as with food, becomes infatuated with Jane Seymour and more obsessed with begetting an heir, poor Anne miscarries and loses her uncanny ability to read the political landscape. So begins the rise of the Seymours at the expense of the Howards. This novel focuses on the political machinations of that time seen through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell does his best to fulfil the King's wishes while keeping all the balls in the air. Those balls include foreign policy, managing the dissolution of the monasteries and keeping his own interests and power intact and of course settling a few scores along the way. The writing is exceptional and Mantel positively relishes throwing some marvellous words like "frotted" into the mix. These perfectly placed words had me opening the dictionary but they give terrific colour to the novel. It's a tribute to Mantel's skill that the ending is of course well known but the book reads like a political thriller anyway. If it doesn't win the Booker I'll be very interested in reading what does.

Praise for Wolf Hall: 'This is a beautiful and profoundly human book, a dark mirror held up to our own world. And the fact that its conclusion takes place after the curtain has fallen only proves that Hilary Mantel is one of our bravest as well as our most brilliant writers.' Olivia Laing, Observer 'As soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret that the story was over, a regret I still feel. This is a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle.' The Times 'Mantel is a writer who sees the skull beneath the skin, the worm in the bud, the child abuse in the suburbs and the rat in the mattress!Turning her attention to Tudor England, she makes that world at once so concrete you can smell the rain-drenched wool cloaks!This is a splendidly ambitious book!I wait greedily for the sequel, but Wolf Hall is already a feast.' Daily Telegraph 'A compelling and humane investigation of the cost of ambition.' Guardian 'Mantel's ability to pick out vivid scenes from sources and give them life within her fiction is quite exceptional!Vividly alive.' London Review of Books 'A stunning book. It breaks free of what the novel has become nowadays. I can't think of anything since Middlemarch which so convincingly builds a world.' Diana Athill A fascinating read, so good I rationed myself. It is remarkable and very learned; the texture is marvellously rich, the feel of Tudor London and the growing household of a man on the rise marvellously authentic. Characters real and imagined spring to life, from the childish and petulant King to Thomas Wolsey's jester, and it captures the extrovert, confident, violent mood of the age wonderfully. C.J. Sansom A magnificent achievement: the scale of its vision and the fine stitching of its detail; the teeming canvas of characters; the style with its clipped but powerful immediacy; the wit, the poetry and the nuance. Sarah Dunant A superb novel, beautifully constructed, and an absolutely compelling read. Mantel has created a novel of Tudor times which persuades us that we are there, at that moment, hungry to know what happens next. It is the making of our English world, and who can fail to be stirred by it? Helen Dunmore 'Hilary Mantel's magnificent new novel' Bee Wilson, Daily Telegraph 'Magestically conjures up an England in the throes of epic change ! a Great British Novel' Hephzibah Anderson, Observer 'Mantel has produced, all round, the novel that best delivers what it promises. It never lets you down; the prose gleams and she tells the story in an original and free-flowing style that will entrap you if you let it.' The Times 'Ms Mantel's best novel yet' The Economist Cromwell has never before appeared as he does in Hilary Mantel's dense, finely wrought 'Wolf Hall'!So convincing is she with 'Wolf Hall' that it is easy to feel that we are seeing the real Cromwell before us, transforming himself from the battered child of an abusive London blacksmith- the boy is bruised and bloodied in the novel's wrenching opening scene-into a cosmopolitan, accomplished Renaissance man!Ms. Mantel has demonstrated that, in her way with Cromwell, she is without peer. Wall Street Journal

Author Information

Hilary Mantel is the author of thirteen books , including A PLACE OF GREATER SAFETY, BEYOND BLACK, and the memoir GIVING UP THE GHOST. Her two most recent novels, WOLF HALL and its sequel BRING UP THE BODIES, have both been awarded The Man Booker Prize - an unprecedented achievement.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions