CROWING GLORY

With her long-awaited novel The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel reveals the final chapter of her phenomenal trilogy, reimagining the scandal and decadence of the Tudors. In an India exclusive, she talks to Bazaar about her controversial protagonist, the power of women in the court, and the boundaries of historical fiction.

The trilogy charts the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, a powerful advisor to King Henry VIII. What made you focus on him, and what did you hope to convey in a larger sense through his story?

The larger purpose is always to tell a story that bridges understanding between different ages and different cultures. Thomas Cromwell’s biography is one that anyone can understand: A man from an obscure background uses his resources to achieve power and wealth. It’s easy to grasp, on an intellectual and emotional level. But what holds readers is the specific: This time, this place, this character, this particular set of circumstances. All the time as an author you are trying to move between the two: The universal, and the very local and particular. You are looking for a character and a narrative curve that will allow you to make that move. Thomas Cromwell seemed to be a richly ambiguous character. Is he just the sum of his actions? Is it possible to understand what drove him? And given that he was a central figure in one of the most charged and fraught decades of English history, why was he so absent from the page, in novels, drama, biography?

You’ve spent over a decade with Thomas Cromwell—are you ready to let go of the character?

No question of letting go—I am now absorbed in creating the stage version.