‘This is a bloody story about the death of Anne Boleyn, but Hilary Mantel is a writer who thinks through the blood. She uses her power of prose to create moral ambiguity and the real uncertainty of political life … She has recast the most essential period of our modern English history; we have the greatest modern English prose writer reviving possibly one of the best known pieces of English history’ Sir Peter Stothard, Chair of the judges for the Man Booker Prize 2012

‘Simply exceptional … I envy anyone who hasn’t yet read it’ Sandra Parsons, Daily Mail

‘In another league. This ongoing story of Henry VIII’s right-hand man is the finest piece of historical fiction I have ever read. A staggering achievement’ Sarah Crompton, Sunday Telegraph

‘Succeeds brilliantly in every particle … it’s an imaginative achievement to exhaust superlatives’ Spectator

‘Wolf Hall was a tour de force, but its sequel is leaner, more brilliant, more shocking than its predecessor’ Erica Wagner, The Times

‘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

‘Mantel in the voice of Cromwell is inspired. When she is in full flow as a novelist, creating scenes and inventing dialogue, she is more convincing than rendering a recorded scene from history’ Philippa Gregory, Sunday Express

‘Don’t think you can start this book whenever you feel like it – plan ahead, as, once started, it’s impossible to escape its grip, and until it’s finished, you won’t get any sleep’ Country Life