Mantel is great parallel! She's much better than Rooney but raises some of the same issues for me and for others.

In my case: I can see why others think she's brilliant, but I found her treatment of Cromwell's point of view and present-tense narration so cloying, I couldn't go on with the series. I just prefer my historical fiction a bit more straight up, without the literary devices that were exactly what others found so appealing.