Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

I’ve got the third of this series sitting waiting to be read but decided that I’d need to refresh my memory by going back to the first two books in the trilogy. And what a gift that’s been. I absolutely relished rereading first Wolf Hall and then Bring Up the Bodies, back to back. I’m often a bit icky about historical fiction, especially when the writers get waylaid by soft porn romantic encounters that never happened. There’s none of that with Ms Mantel thank god. Her research is thorough and fantastic and she takes the time to explain information she might have left out because it had no bearing on the story. So as I read it, I know the thoughts and conversations she attributes to her characters are fiction, but I also feel confident about a lot of the facts. She says at one point in her notes that Thomas Cromwell really deserves great historical investigation. I am betting that largely because of the attention her books about him have gained, that this is probably already underway! He was a fascinating character, son of a boozy blacksmith – well, the boozy bit may be fiction, but will we ever know? Ah the joy of historical fiction begins to emerge! There is no doubt though that he trained with Cardinal Wolsey, and rose to serve Henry VIII. He facilitated Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, supported the break from the Roman church and oversaw the dissolution of the monasteries. And then he oversaw the fall of Anne Boleyn and the rise of Jane Seymour. And there are indeed records of his friends and supporters, and indeed his enemies, all of which make an appearance here. The joy of this book is the way Mantel interweaves the facts with the imagined relationships and responses of other people, all imagined but the product of rigorous research. In one throwaway line a character mentions that her womb might have gone wandering – a one liner, but absolutely accurate. In those times, it was widely believed that a woman’s uterus would indeed wander off around various parts of her body! Mantel’s writing is so engaging, so fluid, and indeed erudite. I am sorely tempted to order in all her other novels just for the joy of her magnificent story telling and compelling characterization. It’s no wonder she’s a prize winner.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

These are the last two of the four book series and continue with the themes of love and friendship, but with a much greater focus on the political and the intellectual than the previous two. Having lived in Italy and become somewhat immersed in Italian life, this all rings true. I have observed these obsessions and the picture Ferrante paints of the intellectual snobbery, the passion of political affiliations, and the pervasive and underlying misogyny and sexism that women of that generation experienced – and which lives on in many instances - is something I can put names and faces to. So these two books are not so much about story as about the background to the story in gritty Naples and snooty Milan and intellectual Florence, as Lenu moves between them. The gangsters rise and fall, women come and go, children are born and disappear, relationships form and flounder, life goes on. The very banality of life, if you can call a society full of murder and suicide and wife beating banal, is the narrative here and the intermittent and push-pull nature of Lenu and Lina’s relationship is probably a reflection of some sort of similar banal reality. And I think that’s probably the point. However I didn’t enjoy these two books as much as the earlier ones. As this saga progresses it’s hard to find a character with whom you sympathise; I have to say I got sick of Lenu in these later books. I just wanted to slap her and say get over yourself, get on with it, stop the self pity. So I’m glad I finished the series but I’ve had enough of it.