I almost gave up on this about 30% in, it reminded me of Goblin Market by by Christina Rossetti in that it seemed to be a treatise on how terrible men were, and what it was to be a woman living among them. I'm not disagreeing with that as a premise but I wasn't sure I wanted to stay with the book the whole way being told how bad I was as a man. Well I am so glad I stuck with the book, I wasn't wrong about the theme of the book per se but it was such a heartfelt and harrowing jourmey that I recommend it for the sheer depth of feeling it evokes in you. Beyond Black is in many ways the story of a woman being haunted by herself, not to mention the motely collection of actual ghouls that hang around her all the time. A ghost story that goes in a direction I have never seen before, a vision of hell in many ways, and what it's like to live without hope of redemption but striving anyway. This was the first book of Hilary Mantel's that I've read but will not be the last.