Wolf Hall

During the reign of Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell rose from a common birth to become one of the most powerful men in England. As Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's right-hand man, Cromwell learns the intricacies of the court, and begins to successfully navigate its politics. When Wolsey fails to produce the divorce the King demands and falls from Henry's favor, Cromwell's talent as a diplomat allows him to eventually rise to succeed where his former master couldn't.

Wolf Hall is brings life and drama to the politics of Tudor England. Written in present-tense episodic sections, the prose is a little jarring at first, but settles into a rhythm quickly. The tense is not distracting, and the prose sparkles (as one would expect from the Booker winner). The cast is a little confusing, but family trees and an itemized cast at the beginning help things immensely. With a lack of dialogue tags, a shortage of nouns in favor of pronouns, and a propensity for stream-of-consciousness, this is not the easiest book to read, but it's not the hardest either. And it is entirely worth the effort.

Told through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall is a wonderful take on Tudor history. Hilary Mantel sets out to write a fictionalised biography of the rise to power of Cromwell, as well as the fall of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s desire to divorce and the opposition of Thomas More. Mantel puts her take on the characterisation of these historical figures and went to painstaking lengths to make sure her version of the story lines up with the historical events as accurately as possible.

Just for the sake of understanding the history behind the book, I did a bit of research before reading this book. I believe this book is set between 1500 and 1535; King Henry VIII has no heir and his chief advisor Cardinal Wolsey is trying to secure his divorce which the Pope refuses to grant. Thomas Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith rises to power by becoming Cardinal Wolsey’s clerk and then later his successor. Wolf Hall takes a look at the history and the morality behind the English Reformation; the English church's break with the Catholic Church in Rome.

With the success of The Tudors TV show and The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, I’m not surprised how popular this book was but I’m a little surprised that it ended up winning the Man Booker prize in 2009. However, this book is a beautiful read and I found it fascinating that Hilary Mantel gave Thomas Cromwell a real sense of humanity when most recordings seem to vilify him. I’m a little confused why this book was called Wolf Hall when Wulfhall was the manor that was the seat of the Seymour family and yet there wasn’t much in this novel to do with Jane Seymour.

Fans of historical fiction, especially of this period of history, this is the book for you. Don’t be too worried about the sheer size of this novel, you won’t be disappointed. For anyone that has no interest in the period then, I’m not sure if you would want to read this. Personally I don’t have much of an interest in the Tudor’s dynasty but I’m interested in books that tackle morality and that drove me through this book but I did end up developing an interest in the history. I’m keen to read the next book in this planned trilogy; Bring Up the Bodies which only covers 1535 to 1556 and centres around the downfall of Anne Boleyn.

Wolf Hall is a retelling of the story of Thomas Cromwell, adviser to Henry XVIII
It starts with the process of the king getting rid of his first wife (which takes years, and a large part of the book to accomplish) and ends with the execution of Thomas More.

Hilary Mantel is an awesome writer. This is a vivid and fascinating book. If you are not already familiar with the history of Henry XVIII, you will find it very confusing. There are many characters with similar names and the story is bizarre, to say the least.

There are many fascinating themes. The way in which royalty erodes humanity, for example. Henry is like an enormous child, not evil, but emotionally crippled. Characters like Anne Boleyn and Thomas More are portrayed with empathy, even though they are deeply flawed.

Fantastic.

I read some books and imagine that I might have written them, but not this. A whole imagined world that has to fit with history, use the historic characters as if they are dramatic fictional ones, and ring true but still be internally consistent with the nature of the author's versions of these characters. An extraordinary achievement.
There is an oddity in the text where almost all references of "he" refer to Cromwell - confusing at first.

History is ever so fascinating, as long as the right person gets the job of telling it. Hilary Mantel's version of how King Henry VIII manages to declare himself the head of the English church is a captivating culmination of five years worth of research that will inspire any reader to learn more about English history.

The star of Wolf Hall is Thomas Cromwell, who Mantel depicts as a brillant thinker and a good person who tiptoes around his monarch to do both good for his country's government, while staying in the good graces of his king. He is the captain of compromise. Cromwell is the son of a commoner, son of a blacksmith who gathers a wealth of experience working in different industries in various European countries. By the time we meet Cromwell as a man, he is a multilingual lawyer who fully understands the law, banking, and the politics of Europe. He is also well versed in the scriptures, and it is rumored that he can recite the entire new testament from memory. Cromwell can argue any point and come out on top. Thomas Cromwell is, well, amazing.

Of course, he has his enemies, but during the 1530's, the decade in which this book takes place, Cromwell is at the top of his game, even earning an earldom, something unheard of for someone of such low birth. Mantel portrays many important people of this time period, gracing them with her novel impersonations of what they might have been like. Thomas More, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, William Tyndale, Anne Boleyn, Mary Boleyn, and all the rest. I was particularly interested to learn something of William Tyndale, since this is the first time I'd heard the name of the man who had first brought us The Bible in English. Much of Tyndale's wording survives to this day. He was eventually burned as a heretic, though Henry VIII was to encourage English translations of The Bible just four years after he condemned Tyndale to death.

Mantel's writing is also attractive; she doesn't write in the English of 1530, for it would be too hard for most of us to get through over 500 pages of that, but she does seem to adopt enough older phrases to make the narrative seem credible. Another quirk of her writing style within these pages was that the pronoun he, unless otherwise clearly stated, refers to Thomas Cromwell. At first, I found myself backtracking and reading passages twice, but once I got used to the rule that Cromwell was he with a small h, things were much clearer.

In the end, I feel as though I've had an inside peek at the lives of Henry VIII and his court during the 1530's, and it has become very clear why this very important decade was glossed over in junior high history class: there's too much sex, rumors of sex, and bloody, gruesome violence.

The narrative does not reach Ann Boleyn's untimely ending, much less Thomas Cromwell's. King Henry VIII is portrayed as a very volatile man who is too dependant on his advisors and not able to think clearly enough on his own. He (King Henry VIII) is a dangerous man to serve.


I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction

An entertaining, though long, book. While Thomas Cromwell is the main character, he doesn't seem to develop at all, just magnificently and wittily playing the Yes Man to whoever is his boss. Sometimes hard to follow as half the people a named Thomas, everyone has two sets of names, and she makes it intentionally not clear who is speaking at times. And, it being about Henry VIII, you know what's going to happen. In the end just needed a break from academia, and this fit the bill well.

This book is now on my list of favorite historical fiction. I love the way Mantel describes Cromwell's thought processes, and I have to admit, I LOVE the curses : "Oh, by the bleached bones of Becket." That's great writing, there. I read a review somewhere that said this book would be confusing to Americans, as we're all basically illiterate and ignorant (okay, that last part wasn't in the review, but it was inferred), but I think whether or not your knowledge of the Reformation and British royal bloodlines is up to par is somewhat irrelevant. This book was simply an amazing retelling of a pivotal moment in British history. Amazing stuff.