Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009 ‘Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,’ says Thomas More, ‘and when you come back that night he’ll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks’ tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.’ England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey’s clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages. From one of our finest living writers, Wolf Hall is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.

I do love Tudor history and so this novel was really right up my street. I already feel I know quite a lot about Henry VIII and his exrtraordinary life – but this novel allows us to view Henry from a distance as it is the more shadowy figure of Thomas Cromwell that is at the centre of the novel. Even before I began to read I was fascinated by this elusive figure, both feared and repected in his time.

Wolf Hall is a 650 page tome, which I have found to be a fairly quick read – bearing in mind I have had more reading time this week than usual. Wolf Hall is a must for all lovers of the Tudor period – all the sights and smells of this exciting and brutal period are brought to life. Thomas Cromwell – a background figure in so many other historical novels is the central character he and his family are brilliantly portrayed,  his  rise from humble beginnings, the tragedies at the heart of his family, and the relationships he has with the people around him have been faithfully researched and brought to life. Maybe because Thomas Cromwell is much more of a shadowy character historically – Mantel is able to bring him alive for us in a way which must be more difficult with well known historical figures like Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn – as we already think we know them. Some criticism I have seen online – which I have to agree with is that sometimes the dialogue is a tad confusing with too many “he saids” in a long complex conversation. There are also a few sections that are a little over long and therefore begin to drag, but overall things move along swiftly and even the complex Tudor politics are made fascinating. I found this a hard to put down book and even found myself sympathising with Thomas Cromwell, as Mantel manages to portray him as very human, he is a hard man, – a product of his background and the times in which he lived. He is a complicated man, and an enormously interesting one.   A very enjoyable well written read, and I look forward to the sequal that I believe is being planned.