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Wolf Hall
I've been meaning to read this modern classic and 2009 Booker Prize winner for AGES: it's been often praised as a believable and meticulously researched novelization of Tudor England in the Cromwell era. Fall felt like a good time to finally jump in; at my friend Mel's urging, I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ben Miles. This is a tale both of Henry VIII's court and of human nature; Wolf Hall, the first in a trilogy, covers the era when the king has determined to marry Anne Boleyn but is still married to Katherine of Aragon, and is pressuring everyone in his circle to make his new marriage possible. I had to mind every word, glance, raised eyebrow, and stiffened shoulder to track who was currently in the king's graces and whose very life was in peril. This was exquisitely done and I'm so glad I finally read it.
About the Book
Publisher’s description:
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power
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. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.
Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?
In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.
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