So I've just started [b]The Mirror and the Light[/b] by [b]Hillary Mantell[/b], the final book in her trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell, possibly the finest historical fiction series of the century thus far. I'm only a hundred or so pages in and its already living up to its predecessors. Its a shame the book did not make it onto the Booker Shortlist, the prize its two predecessors won, as so far it seems every bit as captivating and beautiful as the last two.

You see, Mantell has such a grasp of language that sometimes her work reads more like prose poetry than anything else, something I think you rarely see in historical fiction. There's also the driving immediacy of it all as well, created through her skilful use of the third person present, it really makes it feel like events from 500 years ago are happening right now in front of you. And then there's Cromwell, intelligent, cunning, funny, sympathetic, ruthless, compassionate Cromwell. I know how it all must end for him. And yet I do not want it to. 

But nothing lasts forever, and the more dizzying the rise to the most glorious of heights, the greater the fall to those deep and terrible depths. 

If you haven't read this series yet, go and do it. You're missing out.