You asked for it! So here’s:
Cholera: the Origin Story
I’ve been amateurishly interested in infectious diseases for a long time and have taken every opportunity to incorporate that interest into my professional life as a teacher - classes about medical history are usually rather a big hit (eww, gross!). Pretty soon, I decided to give cholera the award as the most interesting pandemic-causing disease, because it has had such a fascinating impact on the way we live and is so closely linked with the…
Phew. I read The Mirror & The Light when it was published in 2020 — it was somehow a great companion for those weird lockdown days. Then when I re-read it in 2021, I stopped before the last chapter. I couldn't bear to lose Cromwell again, so I pretended he went on as he was, creating a little mischief at court. Since then, I've re-read it twice and the last pages still hit so hard and so well. Hilary Mantel did such a brilliant job with that final scene (of course she did). What a journey this has been! Thank you, Simon.
The nightingale makes me think of Bess Darrell. He's paid her to sing for him, but a nightingale will sing for any owner--and he's incriminated himself in front of her. I do think there is something being said in that Christophe thinks Matthew paid too much, but I don't feel clever enough to figure it out.