Author, TV presenter and Tudor history expert; Lauren is the author of The Wolf Hall Companion, an historical companion to Hilary Mantel’s critically acclaimed Wolf Hall trilogy.
By way of introduction, Lauren points out in her Wolf Hall Companion, The People.The Places. The History.
‘While historical facts are non-negotiable, Mantel weaves a narrative of fact and fiction from one of the most famous periods in history. She sculpts entire conversations from the dispatches of the period, extracts references to individuals, and quirky expressions from fragments within communiques, and fills the gaps in the historical record with plausible motives and interior monologues.’
Lauren points out that in the trilogy, ‘Mantel reimagines Cromwell’s consciousness, and through his eyes we see the major players …effectively upending the traditional tropes. Ann Boleyn is darker and more brittle than she has usually been drawn, Cardinal Wolsey is more than a haughty mountain of scarlet, and Thomas More is not a man for all seasons, but one of cruel conviction.’
Lauren’s PhD thesis investigated the life and career of Thomas Boleyn, father of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. Lauren’s debut book, Inside the Tudor Court: Henry VIII and his Wives through the Eyes of the Spanish Ambassador is the first biography of Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys. Her second book: Among the Wolves of Court: The Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn, the first scholarly biography of the Boleyn men, is based on her doctoral research and published by Bloomsbury Publishing in September 2018. Her third book, The Wolf Hall Companion, is an historical companion to Hilary Mantel’s critically acclaimed Wolf Hall trilogy.
Lauren gives talks regularly around the UK including at the BBC History weekends in 2018. She is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and All About History Magazine. In 2020 she appeared in the three part television documentary, “Henry VIII and the King’s men” (Smithsonian Channel UK) In 2021, Lauren was a consultant and expert contributor for BBC2’s three part series “The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family.
Lauren is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. https://www.laurenmackay.co.uk/the-wolf-hall-companion
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