Bring Up the Bodies

A Novel

By: Hilary Mantel

Narrated by: Ben Miles

Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

2012 Washington Post Best Books of the Year
2012 Cleveland Plain Dealer's Best Books of the Year
2012 NPR Best Book of the Year
2012 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
2012 USA Today Best Books of the Year
2012 New Yorker Best Books of the Year
2012 Entertainment Weekly Best Books of the Year
2013 Women's Prize for Fiction - Shortlist
2012 Costa Book Award - Winner
2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year
2012 Man Booker Award - Winner
2012 Time Magazine Top 10 Books of the Year
2012 The Independent (UK) Best Books of the Year
2013 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Shortlist
2012 Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
2013 Audie Award Winner
2012 Time Magazine Best Books of the Year

This program is read by Ben Miles, who played Thomas Cromwell in the Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

Winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize

The sequel to Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times best seller, Bring Up the Bodies delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn.

Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son, and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.

At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?

Bring Up the Bodies is one of The New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2012, one of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Best Books of 2012, and one of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 Hilary Mantel (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Ben is a great narrator

I really enjoyed this second book. Narration and the story are really compelling. Like I said in the previous book review Bens style sounds perfect for a novel with so much dialogue. Easy to listen to. Well done!

Repetitive

This book has no substance. Within the first 10 minutes she repeats the definition of bulimia at least four times. I stopped listening. I didn't want to waste anymore time.

Brilliant book, brilliant narration

Read and marveled over Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies. Wasn’t sure how I’d like them as audio books. I loved them! The narrator brought the engrossing story, amazing writing and superb characterization to life. Highly recommended.

Great Sequel to Wolf Hall

I rather enjoyed the performance of Wolf Hall by [name escapes me: Stuart Something?], so it took me a bit to settle into the narrative voice at the start of this. It’s hard for the middle book of a trilogy to hold tension and balance satisfaction of plot moving forward without closing off or over reaching the mark. Bring Up the Bodies is well done in that regard. I’m glad to have the PDF of family names because I still forget certain characters (because they are referred to both by their titles and by their family names). My sympathy with Cromwell slips in this storyline, as we get deeper into the story and see how entangled his service to the king is with motives less purely loyal and more self-serving. All this happens through a light hand by the author, imagining her way into his situation and not casting judgment upon him. It’s quite eventful plotting and also extremely complex and thought-provoking. Looking forward to book 3…

Liked this one better than the first in the series

Still very oddly written snd paced, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. I think it better than the first book myself.

very well done

loved it, hard to understand the King's role in this. also Cromwell's of course.