Mantel Pieces: The New Book from The Sunday Times Best Selling Author of the Wolf Hall Trilogy

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Consider this a reason to go ahead and book that warm-weather vacation: One of the prettiest accent pieces can actually be found while strolling alongside the shore. The accessories on the mantel work harmoniously as they echo the two tones with the artwork and bouquet of flowers, which also mirror the painting above the mantel. So if you did relish the masterworks, you'll get a satisfying top-up here, with additional coverage of Tudors and Jacobins and other characters of less prominence but much interest.

Mantels – British Manufacturer of Timber Fire Surrounds GB Mantels – British Manufacturer of Timber Fire Surrounds

Here too are some of her LRB diaries, including her first meeting with her stepfather and a confrontation with a circus strongman. If the essays about the French Revolution and the Plantagenets/Tudors didn’t stand out for me, perhaps it’s because I’ve read Mantel’s historical fiction, as well as other books on the latter time period.Several pieces on characters from The French Revolution - Theroigne de Mericourt, Marie-Antoinette, Robespierre, Danton piqued my interest in Mantel's 1992 novel A Place of Greater Safety . But Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished. The essays in this collection explore subjects – France’s ancien régime and the revolution, Tudor England and the court of Henry VIII, illness and the body, spiritualism and visionary experience – that the double Booker winner has made her own in her fiction and her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost (2003).

Hilary Mantel Takes On Royals and Rebels in a Book of Essays Hilary Mantel Takes On Royals and Rebels in a Book of Essays

If you're looking to keep your living room looking sleek and simple, a dramatic abstract with gray and white tones is a smart solution. My favourites essays were the brilliant Royal Bodies, In Bed with Madonna and The Secrets of Margaret Pole. Perhaps it was a “behind the scenes” sort of thing but I ended up skipping most of them (especially if it involved handwriting because I find it hard to read my own handwriting, let alone others).The piece about some of the figureheads of the French Revolution struck me most, with Robespierre, Danton, and most of all, Marie-Antoinette. If yourmantelis covered in shiplap or has intricate wood detailing, you don't need a whole lot to dress it up. Maybe it all just comes down to this simple truth: that even if you don't understand something, you can still appreciate it. Excellent set of essays, many covering similar historical periods as those covered in her novels, all well-written with memorable phrases and her wonderful cutting intelligence and humour. The key is to create a collection of items that while seemingly random, are actually cleverly arranged to create balance.