Wolf Hall: A Novel

Hilary Mantel

Oct 2009 · Wolf Hall Trilogy Book 1 · Sold by Henry Holt and Company

About this eBook

WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel's New York Times bestselling Wolf Hall is "a darkly brilliant reimagining of life under Henry VIII. . . . Magnificent." (The Boston Globe).

The basis for the TV series on BBC and PBS Masterpiece starring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell.

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 helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

Ratings and reviews

Written in third person, Wolf Hall proved to be an, eventually, interesting but difficult book with which to become involved. I do recommend it, particularly to those who revel in Henry VIII fictional literature. However, I must advise other readers to proceed with determination. In the end, the time invested in this read will prove worthy of one's effort.

Deceptive, masterful writing style. Characters & intrigue that are both sensational yet realistic. The author never dumbs it down for her readers. I adored it and couldn't put it down.

Odd but engrossing writing style, slow paced, everything told through Cromwell's experience or thoughts.

About the author

Hilary Mantel was the author of the bestselling novel Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, which both won the Booker Prize. The final novel of the Wolf Hall trilogy, The Mirror & the Light, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and won world-wide critical acclaim. Mantel wrote seventeen celebrated books, including the memoir Giving Up the Ghost, and she was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the Walter Scott Prize, the Costa Book Award, the Hawthornden Prize, and many other accolades. In 2014, Mantel was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She died at age seventy in 2022.