I'd been meaning to read Wolf Hall, the first in Hilary Mantel's trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, for years. Then it turned out my friend MEG was a fan, so I borrowed her copy about a year ago and was hooked. I didn't know much about Cromwell before this (though I could have named you all of Henry VIII's wives--remember that old rhyme, "Two beheaded/two died/one divorced/one survived"?).
Now you may ask how does this, the final novel in the trilogy, fit into spiritual reading? I think it's all in the title; Cromwell, always the politician, tells Henry he is "the mirror and the light of other kings." But what Cromwell forgets is that he himself is a mirror--not the light, not the authority. He forgets that at his own peril. I think it's the same with God and us. Reflecting the Lord's light is what we are called to do. But when we set ourselves up as the light, through ego, pride, prejudice, or other evils, we put our souls in jeopardy.
