The eternal question: can non-subscribers to the U.K. Spectator read a few articles for free per month? (I’m pretty sure you peasants don’t have access to the comments, but still.) This one is very good. It reproduces an essay Mantel wrote on Saudi Arabia in 1987. I couldn’t find the piece anywhere else online.
Good historical fiction is very hard to pull off. You have to immerse yourself in a very alien place. (“Hey, what if I did a Sam Spade character but he’s in, like, ancient Rome!?! Did they have police in ancient Rome? I could totally look that up!” doesn’t work.)
Her Wolf Hall trilogy was terrific.
