Summer books: the best fiction

Word on the street is that Hilary Mantel, who won the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Wolf Hall, might pull off a Booker double with its sequel, Bring Up The Bodies (4th Estate, £20; £16*; e-book, £9.99). Once again, Mantel is writing about Thomas Cromwell, the self-made blacksmith’s boy who became the power behind the throne of Henry VIII. This time the focus is on the legendary and fascinating figure of Anne Boleyn, and it is an extraordinary, witty, ferociously intelligent re-imagining of a famous piece of history. You know how it ends, but it’s like watching a glass shatter in slow motion — Mantel handles the tragedy with brilliance and the dark shadows at the end point to where the blade will fall