Mantel is a fabulous English writer with great breadth, strength and wit. Her books are quite different from one another, so if the first one you try does not work for you, it is worth trying a few others. I started with "Fludd" and found it completely engaging, full of very dark humor (her usual kind) and great characterizations. "Beyond Black," a much more recent book, is also wonderful, again with strong, deeply imagined characters, but this time grounded in a more familiar (to me, anyway) world. "Ghazzah Street" is a more overtly political book, brilliantly observed as usual and ultimately quite grim.