'Wolf Hall' by Hilary Mantel is a dense and satisfying novel that brings to life the character of Thomas Cromwell amidst the fall of Wolsey and the rise of the Boleyns. The book delves deep into personal and political world-building, exploring mythologies of the Reformation and the complexities of 16th-century England. Mantel expertly crafts a meticulously researched story surrounding Cromwell, portraying him with care and attention to detail.
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Content warnings include descriptions of violence, executions, and historical injustices.
From The Publisher:
WINNER OF THE 2009 MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous.
Cromwell rises to heights no one could have imagined. The Boleyns, the Howards, the old families and the new, cannot fathom why the king so trusts and relies on a man of no title and an obscured past, even after Cromwell's mentor Cardinal Wolsey falls from favor. Cromwell manages to deliver the king's wishes, but what will be the price of his triumph? In Wolf Hall, Mantel inhabits the fascinating mind of a man little understood and widely mythologized, bringing his influence on the making of Britain into new, dazzling light.
Ratings (60)
Incredible (13) | |
Loved It (23) | |
Liked It (14) | |
It Was OK (4) | |
Did Not Like (6) |
Reader Stats (167):
Read It (61) | |
Currently Reading (2) | |
Want To Read (79) | |
Did Not Finish (7) | |
Not Interested (18) |
5 comment(s)
This was my 3rd time reading Wolf Hall. Really enjoy the book and it's the type where I want to reread the series from time to time. Live historical novels that feels very heavy with history and real facts sprinkled in but also an engaging story to go along. Might pick up the second book soon, not sure.
I tried to read this book, but I had a hard time keeping track of the 50 million characters. I may revisit it again when I have more time to focus!
This book defeated me.
I couldn't finish it. I see that it is amazing, nuanced and clever and heartbreaking and dense, but I just couldn't get through it. I don't know why! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction or awesome things in general.
Now I must slink off and feel the shame.
DNF @ 4% (1.5 chapters)
It's fine—the writing style is fine, the characters are fine, the plot is fine—but I'm not slogging through 600 pages of fine. I'm neither blown away by beautiful prose nor especially intrigued by Cromwell as a character, and it's not so interesting that I can't put it down, so...after reading a handful of unpromising reviews, I'm doing exactly that.
I so wanted to like this book. Numerous friends had read it and had urged me to do so. In any case, since much of what I knew about the court of Henry VIII was based on watching TV programmes and films such as A Man for All Seasons, I was especially intrigued by the idea of Thomas Cromwell as a sympathetic figure and Thomas More as a rather repulsive one. So I started reading with high hopes. But it just did not work for me. That was not because I regard Hilary Mantel as anything less than a great novelist and historian. She fully deserved the accolades. The problem was me: I just could not get on with the present-tense narrative. My loss ...
What can you read after
Wolf Hall?
About the Author:
Hilary Mantel is the two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize for her best-selling novels, Wolf Hall, and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. Wolf Hall has been translated into 36 languages, Bring Up the Bodies into 31 languages, and sales for both books have reached over 5 million copies worldwide. In addition to the Wolf Holf trilogy, she is the author of A Place of Greater Safety, Giving Up the Ghost, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Beyond Black, Every Day Is Mother's Day, Vacant Possession, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Fludd, A Change of Climate, An Experiment in Love, The Giant, O'Brien, and Learning to Talk.
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