If you liked
Books like The Mirror & the Light
by Hilary Mantel
The Mirror and the Light closes Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy, following him from his greatest power to the block, at full, unhurried scale. It is the culmination of one of the great achievements in modern historical fiction. If you want more of that level, these are the reads.
The shortlist
What to read next
Wolf Hallby Hilary Mantel
“Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 2009 review. Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith's son who rose to serve Henry VIII, reorganizes the English state at the cost of his own soul. Booker Prize 2009 and the most important historical novel of the twenty-first century.”
Bring Up the Bodiesby Hilary Mantel
“Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel 2012 review. Thomas Cromwell engineers the fall of Anne Boleyn and the rise of Jane Seymour. Booker Prize 2012, the second volume of the Cromwell trilogy, and the rare novel that exceeds an already-canonical predecessor.”
Hamnetby Maggie O'Farrell
“Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell 2020 review. The death of William Shakespeare's eleven-year-old son and the four years before Hamlet is written. The Women's Prize winning novel about marriage, grief, and the play that came out of it.”
The Marriage Portraitby Maggie O'Farrell
“The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell 2022 review. Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici recognizes that her husband, the Duke of Ferrara, intends to kill her. O'Farrell's Hamnet follow-up.”
The Pillars of the Earthby Ken Follett
“The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett 1989 review. The building of a twelfth-century English cathedral against the backdrop of civil war. The 1,024-page novel that defined the modern epic historical fiction.”
The Covenant of Waterby Abraham Verghese
“The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese 2023 review. Three generations of a Christian family on the Malabar Coast of Kerala, connected by a generational drowning condition. Verghese's second major novel.”
FAQ
Common questions about The Mirror & the Light read-alikes
- I have finished the trilogy. What now?
- If you read The Mirror and the Light first, go back to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, since the ending lands hardest with the whole arc behind it. Otherwise, the O'Farrell novels below are the closest thing to more Mantel.
- I want another writer at this sentence level.
- Maggie O'Farrell. Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait bring the same close, sensory intelligence to the Shakespearean and Renaissance past. She is the most natural heir to what Mantel does with historical interiority.
- I want a sweeping historical saga to disappear into.
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese both deliver hundreds of immersive pages across decades. Broader and more plot-driven than Mantel, but total immersion is the point.
- Where should a newcomer to Mantel start?
- Wolf Hall, always. The Mirror and the Light is the grand finale; the trilogy is designed to be read in order, and the first book is where Cromwell's voice hooks you.
The original