Mystery book author Autumn Doerr’s Books that Changed Her Life. Book #1

#1: “Wolf Hall,” by Hillary Mantel, is the most evocative book I have ever read. The writing is gorgeous. It shimmers on the page. Living inside Thomas Cromwell’s head during the reign of King Henry VIII is a fascinating place to be.

I was lost when I first started reading “Wolf Hall” because there are a lot of Thomases and many of the historic figures have multiple nicknames.

I almost gave up on it.

I was sitting at my favorite café, Little Flower in Pasadena, peering at the “Cast of Characters” and “Family Tree” at the front of the book trying to follow who was whom when a woman saw me and said, “I given up on that book.” I didn’t want to pack it in because the writing is visceral and immediate which is rare so I stopped trying to identify the characters and let them reveal themselves. And, once they did, I fell in love.