Wolf Hall Books in Order
Wolf Hall is Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy: three novels (2009-2020) that take the blacksmith's son from Wolf Hall to the scaffold, through the fall of Anne Boleyn and the rise of the court that could not keep him. The first two books won the Booker Prize - the only time a series has taken it twice - and the third, The Mirror & the Light (March 2020), closed the story as the publishing event of its year. The reading order is strict and famous for one reason: Mantel's pronoun trick, where he means Cromwell and no one else, teaches itself across the first chapters and never explains itself. This page sequences the trilogy and its adaptations (2009–2020).
Where to start
Wolf Hall (2009), book one - there is no other door; the trilogy is one continuous story and the prose adjusts itself within fifty pages.
The complete list
Tick the boxes off as you read, or for the bookshelf.
| Year | Title | Series / type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Wolf Hall | #1 — Booker Prize; start here | |
| 2012 | Bring Up the Bodies | #2 — Booker Prize | |
| 2020 | The Mirror & the Light | #3 · Mar 5 2020 — the trilogy closes |
Does the reading order matter?
Strict, in order, no substitutions: Wolf Hall (2009) covers 1500 to 1535, ending in More's execution; Bring Up the Bodies (2012) covers the ten months of Anne Boleyn's fall, ending in her execution; The Mirror & the Light (March 5, 2020) runs four years to Cromwell's own - at nine hundred pages, more than half the trilogy by weight. Each assumes everything before it. The adaptations share the order: the RSC staged the first two as a pair (2013-14), the BBC's Wolf Hall with Mark Rylance covered book one (2015), and its second season, The Mirror and the Light (2024), finally adapted the finale. Readers who want Mantel's nonfiction shadows: her essays collected in A Memoir of My Former Self (2023) explain the method
Which one is the best?
Wolf Hall (2009), the Booker winner that set the voice; Bring Up the Bodies (2012), the tighter second; The Mirror & the Light (2020), the long descent.
Related guides
Readers finishing this shelf usually want the map next door: Hilary Mantel books in order, Ken Follett books in order, Diana Gabaldon books in order. Every guide follows the same format — the shelf, the entry point, the honest answer about order.
Make it a project
Pick a session size and let the days accumulate — at the pace our reading speed test measures, most shelves above clear in a few weeks of half-hours. Every guide on the books in order shelf follows this same format, and when a book lands, its 8-question quiz is waiting on the original book quiz.
Frequently asked questions
What order should you read Wolf Hall books in?
Strict: 2009 → 2012 → 2020. One story; read straight through.
Where should I start with Wolf Hall?
Wolf Hall (2009), #1 of 3, straight through.
How many Wolf Hall books are there?
Three novels (2009-2020), complete at Cromwell's death - two Booker Prizes, both for the series, the RSC stage pair, and the BBC series with Mark Rylance through 2024. As of October 2026 this list is current.
What was Wolf Hall's first book?
Wolf Hall (2009) — the first row of the list above.