| Wolf Hall | 
| Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Rating:  381 reviews
Sales Rank: 26
Media: Paperback
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.9
ISBN: 0007230206
EAN: 9780007230204
ASIN: 0007230206
Publication Date: March 4, 2010
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Product Description
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.'
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 381
 A magnificent tale June 16, 2009
R. W. Mackenzie
455 out of 490 found this review helpful
Anyone who paid attention in history classes at school will need little background to the events of Wolf Hall. The key events of the story take place over just less than a ten year period from the 1520s to the 1530s. Mantel has taken what is, supposedly, Britain's best loved history topic, Henry VIII and his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, marriage to Anne Boleyn and the resulting split with Rome and has melded it into a compelling story.
She has obviously had some of her work done for her - the key dramatic events, characters, plots and intrigue are fairly heavily based in fact, but what Mantel has done is to breathe life and substance into the historial figures to make them loveable, hateable, complex characters. At the centre of her book stands Thomas Cromwell, a man from humble origins who rose to unprecedented power in England as Henry's chief minister. Cromwell is beautifully portrayed and his personal relationships, be they loving, tragic or political are fascinating reading. The relationships with Wolsey and More in particular are executed wonderfully (no pun intended in the latter case).
My only grumble with the book were that some events are included, but skated over in short passages and other events are included, but drag a little. This is probably an inevitable part of a historical novel covering such a long period of time; you can't simply leap forward 2 years and avoid the need to understand certain intervening events. However, whilst this slows the pace of the book in places, I enjoyed the book so much that it didn't particularly spoil it for me (indeed, those who prefer a fast paced novel are probably not going to enjoy Wolf Hall).
The book ends shortly after the death of Thomas More, and I can't be only one who wonders (and hopes) whether we might yet see a second, "decline and fall" book. I'd certainly love to read it.
Insightful, intuitive - brilliant - if you read one book this year, it should be this one. October 11, 2009
B. A. V. MIDDLEMAST-NEAL (Essex, UK)
40 out of 46 found this review helpful
"Wolf Hall" is a fictionalised biography of Thomas Cromwell and covers his rise from an unpromising and brutalised childhood, through his involvement in the divorce of Katherine of Aragon and the subsequent marriage of Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII. It finishes shortly after the death of Thomas More.
This is brilliantly written; the author has the ability to effortlessly enfold chunks of history into the narrative. There is no clunky gear change from the homely business of the Cromwell household into an explanation of Pope Clement's position on Henry's marriage to Katherine. Everything is brilliantly entwined.
Each character is exquisitely and finely drawn (even the minor and seemingly insignificant ones). It's well-researched, thorough and absorbing.
This is not a quick read. But I have read every Booker Prize winner for the last fifteen years and this one is, in my opinion, the most eloquently and beautifully written. I have read other books by Hilary Mantel (my favourite being "Beyond Black") but this is on a completely different level and is in contention to be one of my favourite books of all time.
If you read just one book this year, make it this one.
Mantel at the top of her game September 10, 2009
Ian Henderson (Warwickshire, UK)
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
Hilary Mantel has written a historical novel that is also a gripping psychological thriller. It is centred on Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, as he navigates the murderous feuds around the court of this autocratic and ruthless monarch, out of which came England's breach with Rome, the protestant reformation, and (some say) the beginnings of a state bureaucracy. Cromwell was a skilful survivor, and many of his opponents and ex-friends met a sticky end, including Thomas More, renaissance scholar who refused to bow the knee to Henry, and the unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn. Both are more famous than Cromwell, both were executed.
Hans Holbein painted Cromwell with "the face of a murderer". Mantel paints the blacksmith's son from Putney as a family man and a brisk, efficient man of business with the diplomatic charm needed to steer a course for his master at home and among the big beasts of Europe - Pope, Emperor and the French king Francis I. Henry was duly grateful and rewarded him with offices and power.
Because Mantel does her research meticulously, the characters leap out of the page, and the reader thinks "this is how it must have been". Wolf Hall is a supremely imaginative novel but it also provides a subtle and chilling dissection of human cruelty generated by the power struggles in an autocracy. Cromwell hardly qualifies as its hero, but we care about his fate. The book ends when he sets course for Wolf Hall, home of Henry's next queen. We know that Cromwell lived for five more years, and we know that it won't go well in the end. Has Mantel a sequel already on hard disk? Or has she made her point, that politics is a rough old game? As it stands, this is a richly textured story and second to none in creating a world where believable people wrestle with chaotic events.
Living history July 2, 2010
K. Golding
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mantel's brilliantly imagined reconstruction of the life of Thomas Cromwell and life in Tudor England. The historic present tense that for some reason seemed quite controversial gives Thomas's voice - and the whole period - an immediacy, a real, urgent life. From the stark tragedy of the plague to glimpses of a malevolent Anne Boleyn, the capricious, spoiled King and the bizarre utterances of Thomas More - this is Mantel finally delivering a fully achieved masterpiece after a number of novels with great moments. Hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel - and wish the ending could be different!
Enjoyable romp through an interesting time in our history June 20, 2010
G. Coates (Surrey, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wolf Hall is one of those books you either love or hate, depending on your view of historical novels. If you are prepared to let the author take you on an imagined, fleshed-out, fly-on-the-wall sortie through real historical events, you will be rewarded with a gripping and thoroughly entertaining account of the Tudor court during Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine of Aragon and the subsequent break with Rome. If, however, you find such imaginings irritating and are likely to spend the whole time thinking "how could she possibly know if it happened like this?", you will probably hate Wolf Hall and would be advised to steer clear.
Personally I loved the way Hilary Mantel characterises these well-known names from history. Cromwell himself (the book's main protagonist) is a delight - she manages to give a totally believable warmth and humour to this much-maligned man. Thomas More is given much harsher treatment and there will be many readers who are surprised by the portrayal of this man who most of us only know from the significantly more sympathetic "A Man for All Seasons". Other characters - Henry, Katherine, Cardinal Wolsey, Anne Boleyn and a whole host of lesser players - all leap off the page with meticulous portraits that make each one unique and convincing. Her depiction of Tudor life is so packed with detail you can almost taste the food and smell the stench on the streets.
Above all, I thought it beautifully written and one of those rare books that I resented having to put down. Sadly, at 650 pages, I couldn't manage it in one sitting!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 381
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