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Last week, I reviewed My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (and snuck in some thoughts about Thank You For Listening). Tina enjoyed The Woman Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle, the third book about Paula Spencer.

Wolf Hall, the television series, won the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries in 2015.

Wolf Hall, the book, won the Booker Prize in 2009. The sequel won the Booker Prize, again, in 2012. I never read the books. Wolf Hall is 688 pages and Bring Up the Bodies is 485 pages. The third book in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light is a whopping 883 pages. I was intimidated.

Wolf Hall, the television series, covers the material in the first two books.

The main character is Thomas Cromwell, the lowly born lawyer who manages to wind his way into a position as adviser to King Henry VIII and moves many events to his will.

We see the years of deliberations and negotiations when King Henry wants the Pope to annul his first marriage so that he can marry Anne Boleyn. Then, we watch the implosion of that marriage as Jane Seymour’s star rises.

Mark Rylance is brilliant as Thomas Cromwell, always keeping things close to his chest so that only a quiet line of dialogue or a glance in a certain direction betrays his thoughts.

I loved Claire Foy in the first two seasons of The Crown as the young Queen Elizabeth. In Wolf Hall, she gets to play a very different queen — Anne Boleyn.

I also enjoyed seeing Anton Lesser (Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour, Harold Macmillan in the second season of The Crown) as Thomas More.

Mark Gatiss had a smaller role, but one that kept popping up, as Stephen Gardiner, an ambassador of England. I enjoyed Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock, but I also get a kick out of how often I see his name as writer or as another background role in the credits of shows that I love. Mark Gatiss is clearly a very talented and creative person and not just in front of a camera.

Since 2015, the world has been waiting for a second season that covers the events in the third book of the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light. We’re finally about to get Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis (King Henry VIII) will reprise their roles. Obviously, getting the whole cast back together was impossible, but they did a remarkably good job of bringing back major roles.

The second season will air on BBC One and iPlayer beginning on November 10. I couldn’t find a date when this season will be available on PBS, but they are rebroadcasting the original show, now, in anticipation.

Trending News shared a teaser video this week:

What is your experience with Wolf Hall? Have you read the books or seen the series or both or neither?