This worthy winner of the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction makes a wonderful introduction to the turbulent history of Tudor England, spesifically Henry V111. Most unusual writing draws the reader right into the mind of Thomas Cromwell, an often maligned character. This book will absolutely keep you thinking, wondering and feeling glad you live today and not in 16 century England. Recommended for lovers of literary novels and not just historicals.

Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated by English history, especially the period from the Wars of Roses to the English Reformation. Even the best of Hollywood cannot top this era for action, adventure, romance, intrigue and violence.

Please forgive the brief, (?), history lesson which follows, but "Wolf Hall" assumes a deep knowledge of English history that most people - except for those well schooled in English history - lack. I hope I am more helpful than boring in summarizing the background of this exceptional work of historical fiction.

The Wars of the Roses, were a series of dynastic civil wars between the rival houses of Lancaster, (the Tudors), and York, (the Plantagenets), for the throne of England. The Lancastrian symbol was the red rose - the Plantagenet's, the white. The war ended with the victory of the Lancastrian Henry Tudor, King Henry VII, who founded the House of Tudor. His marriage to Elizabeth Plantagenet, (the white rose), and the eldest daughter of King Edward IV, penultimate king of the house of York, cemented the joining of the two houses. The third child of their political union was called Henry, who was to become King Henry VIII. That's the background information for the setting of Hilary Mantel's Man Booker Prize winning novel, "Wolf Hall."

The time is 16th century Tudor England, (1527 to 1535), under the reign of King Henry VIII, at the beginning of the English Reformation. The Reformation was brought about by a series of events initiated when the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. These events were, in part, associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation, a religious and political movement which affected the practice of Christianity across most of Europe. Many factors contributed to the process: primarily the invention of Johann Gutenberg's printing press - a device which would change the world.

The demand for books became huge as Europe began to come out of the medieval era into the Renaissance. This hunger for knowledge increased dramatically once the Printing Press was invented - knowledge and ideas that were not easily obtainable before, suddenly became accessible. As people became more prosperous and literate, those who could read Latin were able to read the Bible, and they began to rethink their faith in the Catholic Church. The Printing Press meant that people, like Martin Luther, could spread their word quickly and easily, resulting in the Reformation and other changes. By the year 1480 its impact was immediate among the literate classes. However, once the Bible was translated into English, it enabled printed materials to spread rapidly - people could no longer be kept in ignorance and darkness.

Before The Reformation only the clergy could own and interpret the Bible. It was illegal for laypeople to possess the Holy Book in many countries, including England. it was still forbidden to read a Bible if you weren't a priest. The Church outlawed the printing of the Bible and certainly the sale of the Bible.

The Lollardy Movement in England began to grow. Lollardy was the political and religious movement of the Lollards from the mid-14th century to the English Reformation. The term Lollards refers to the followers of John Wycliffe, a prominent theologian who was dismissed from University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the traditional church, especially his doctrine on the Eucharist. Its demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity. Lollards were persecuted in England as were the Jews and "false" converts in Spain during the Inquisition.

The above subjects are the heart of "Wolf Hall's" narrative.

I think the novel, including warts and flaws, is certainly worthy of the Booker Prize, although I have not read the short list. You might be disappointed if you are expecting the book to resemble the works of Philippa Gregory or Jean Plaidy, (and I am a huge fan of both writers), or to echo the themes of films like "Anne of a Thousand Days", "A Man for All Seasons," or the HBO Tudor mini series, (all terrific films). "Wolf Hall" is definitely NOT "historical fiction lite!" From seemingly timeworn material, a fresh and finely wrought work has been written. It portrays an extraordinary portrait of a society in the throes of change, with Henry VIII at its helm and Thomas Cromwell as first mate....or perhaps, visa versa!! But make no mistake, this is not a novel of romance, nor obvious drama with great tension which builds toward an exciting climax.

Our protagonist is Thomas Cromwell, a man from extremely humble beginnings. The son of an abusive Putney blacksmith, Cromwell rises through life to become the chief minister of King Henry VIII. Intelligent and shrewd to begin with, he learned his street smarts after he ran away from home in his early adolescence, and survived by his wits alone. He spent years as a mercenary in France. Then he worked with bankers in Florence. He plied a trade for a time as a clothier, and then as a lawyer. Cromwell's introduction to the life of the rich and powerful elite begins with his relationship with Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey is a compelling and commanding figure - an English statesman and Cardinal of the Catholic Church. His eventual fall from such heady heights is due to his inability to provide Henry VIII with a Church-sanctioned divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Ironically, Wolsey's fall from grace causes Cromwells fortune to rise.

The novel is told entirely from Cromwell's point of view. Nothing important occurs unless he is either a witness or otherwise made aware of the circumstances.

In the 1520s England is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by another civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his twenty year marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. Cromwell realizes that Henry, would remain Catholic if the Pope would just give him what he wants, a dispensation to marry Anne. But the Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Cromwell knows that the King can only be led to the Reformation through his desire for Anne Boleyn.

In many Tudor history accounts, Cromwell is disparaged, but here the author gives him a human face. He is constantly busy arranging all things to please "His Majesty," even willing to give his life to win the king's favor. Frequently, however, he labors to suit himself and his own desire for reform. He is a family man, yes - but he is also secretive, a bully and a charmer, both idealist and opportunistic, tireless, astute in reading people, and a consummate ambitious politician. He is a reformer but not a zealot. Cromwell helps Henry VIII with "The King's Great Matter" - to break the opposition and, ultimately, make Henry the head of the Church of England and husband of Anne Boleyn. It is through Cromwell's eyes that the reader watches the Tudor world unfold.

"Wolf Hall" is a most complex, deftly written, original novel - but it is long - over 500 pages - and it is certainly not a fast read. This is a book, both vivid and real, which should be read slowly and savored. It doesn't deal with Henry's romantic inclinations and indulgences, glamorous fetes and progresses, etc. It doesn't even touch on Anne Boleyn's beheading. The main theme here is how to obtain power and wield it. There is little heroism or idealism here.

"Listening to a disgruntled earl pontificate about 'ancient rights,' Cromwell wonders how he can explain real life to this clueless nobleman. 'The world is not run from where he thinks. Not from his border fortresses, not even from Whitehall. The world is run from Antwerp, from Florence, from places he has never imagined . . . not from castle walls, but from countinghouses, not by the call of a bugle but by the click of the abacus.'"

Most surprising is Hilary Mantel's revisionary take on such figures as Thomas Moore, usually viewed as a great scholar, Renaissance humanist, a violent opponent of the Reformation of Martin Luther, and a government official. For three years, toward the end of his life, he was Lord Chancellor. According to most accounts, Moore was a kind and sympathetic man, faithful to his family, his king and the Church. The author's version of Moore, who was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886, and canonized on May 19, 1935, by Pope Pius XI, is one of a man obsessed with his religion, who wears hair shirts, flagellates himself, makes fun of his wife, has a nasty temperament, and delights in torturing anyone suspected of Lollardy. Those imprisoned in London's tower fear his competence with the use of the rack and other such devices. And he delights in seeing "heretics" burn at the stake.

Other characters brought to life on the pages, include: Henry VIII; Thomas Cranmer, a leader of the English Reformation who helps build a favorable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, which results in the separation of the English Church from a union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, Cranmer supports the principle of Royal Supremacy, in which the king is considered sovereign over the Church within his realm. Those in secondary roles include Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and Anne Boleyn's uncle; Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and husband to King Henry's sister Mary; Anne Boleyn, (who is not a prominent figure here - she is just a prop in a much larger story); Mary Boleyn, ("The Other Boleyn Girl"), the French ambassador, and many more people, famous or otherwise.

What really bothers me about the narrative is that the author uses the pronoun "he" much too frequently but fails to mention the subject first. Therefore I found myself reading a page or two before discovering who "he" is. This is really disconcerting and takes away from the smooth flow of the prose and storyline. Otherwise, the writing, in the present tense, is excellent and often witty.

Honestly, I have no idea why the title is "Wolf Hall," which is the seat of the Seymore clan. The name only appears once or twice in the book and the estate is never visited. Jane Seymour, daughter of "Wolf Hall," was Henry VIII's 3rd wife who finally bore the man a legitimate son. I could postulate on the symbolism of the title...but in the end, I just advise English history lovers - all historical fiction fans - to grab a copy of "Wolf Hall." It is well worth the time it takes to read it.

I understand a sequel is in the works and I cannot wait!
Jana Perskie

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My main problem with WOLF HALL was grammatical. Hilary Mantel does not have a firm grasp on pronoun agreement. The novel was intended to be written in author limited point of view, where we're in the head of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's principal adviser during the Ann Boleyn controversy. But instead of referring to Cromwell by name she uses "he," or, in rare cases, "he, Cromwell." There are long passages where Cromwell is describing a meeting with Henry VIII or Thomas More, when it's not clear who she's talking about when she refers to "he." Modern writers like to use such stylistic gimmicks as the lack of quotation marks and switching from 3rd person to first between chapters and James Joyce, of course, originator of stream of consciousness, didn`t bother with such silly notions as periods and commas, but none of this stuff bothered me more than Mantel's idiosyncrasy.

WOLF HALL is pretty much a character vehicle. Thomas Cromwell was the most gifted man in Henry VIII's court from 1532-1540. According to Mantel, it was his idea to make Henry the head of the church of England and confiscate monastic lands and income. This ploy resulted from Pope Clement's refusal to recognize the dissolution of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. We also see Thomas Cromwell at home dealing with the loss of his wife and two daughters during the plague, arranging marriages for his nephew and ward, and trying to get the best possible education for his son, Gregory, who was not that enamored of learning.

We also get to eavesdrop on the behind the scenes plotting going on at court. Anne wanted her children to be first in succession, ahead of Mary, Catherine's daughter. The Duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle, was Cromwell's main nemesis in that the Duke disapproved of the king appointing a layman and son of a blacksmith as one of his councilors. There's also the sad case of Mary Boleyn, whom Cromwell tried to marry off to his nephew Richard. Henry nixed that match because he needed Mary in the bedroom when Anne refused him.

Thomas Cromwell was pretty much a thug as a boy with a brutal father; he ran away to become a soldier in France, then got involved in trade in Italy and Holland, ultimately working his way up to Cardinal Wolsey's lawyer and then Henry's adviser. Cromwell comes off as a decent sort of man. Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor after Wolsey, is torturing and executing heretics with a vengeance and Cromwell does his best to save some of them. He also feels sorry for Mary Boleyn and tries to secure a sinecure for her when she marries a wastrel and moves away from court. The book ends with Thomas More's execution, kind of shock since anybody with a firm grasp of English history knows that Cromwell, himself, was executed after Henry fourth marriage, negotiated by Cromwell, went bad.

The novel is 532 pages long, but Mantel's choice to end it at More's death makes it seem like she didn't know how to finish it. Cromwell was Wolsey's lawyer and they had a close relationship, and More may have had something to do with his downfall, but Cromwell was not the vindictive sort. He actually tries to help More to some extent. The novel does not build toward More's execution.

This is a very disappointing work. Writing hitorical novels as fictional representations of real life obviously has significant problems, which take, perhaps a Tolstoy to do real justice to them. Wolf Hall is not only a poor attempt at an historical novel, if it can even be called that, but the style is turgid, sometimes flippant, but never facile. You have to force yourself to plod through it in the hope that something interesting will appear.
The characters are two dimensional at best. If there were one dimension, her characters would quilify for that category, e.g., Wolsey appears a weeping cartoonish buffoon who lives and acts in confusion, and the reader tires quickly of him, though historically he was a fascinating man, for example.
How this won the Booker prize, or any at all, astonishes me. I've had undergrad writers who wrote better fiction. What was that committee thinking? Did they actually read the novel? What a pity. Read The Glass Room instead. That is a first-rate novel and finalist for the Booker. For Wolf Hall, save your money and eyesight.

Hilary Mantel spins a captivating yarn

Wolf Hall is a tapestry with a rich palette of succulent imagery and savours. It is an epicurean delight for the senses.

The author provides a luminous introspection into the intrigues and personalities around Henry VIII's divorce from Queen Katherine, with its fierce religious and political undercurrent.

Ribald in parts, sometimes bawdy, it maintains a patient and methodical cadence, fully developing the characters and venues of the court and sanctuaries.

Everyone has an agenda here, or is trying to stay out of harm's way of that of others. These are much different characters than that portrayed in the touchstone 'A Man for All Seasons'.

Thomas More, by comparison is a tarnished saint, less than idealistic, Thomas Cromwell, more benign and practical, Anne Boleyn, is vain, plotting and cruel , Henry VIII, a man of grasping ambition, mediocre intellect and shrivelled conscience. It is the Cromwell, though, who Mantel chooses as her primary point of view, just short of making him the first person narrator. The border between the sacred and profane is loosely defined here.

Lists of characters and genealogy provide a helpful reference. I found myself using it constantly to recall people, in the constantly recombining plots and subplots.

Mantel's predilection for favouring pronouns in the place of proper names, which can lead to confusion in a less than attentive reader, is my one gripe with the book. It takes concentration to keep the complex epic composed in one's mind. But Mantel never gets bogged down. Twists and complications in the narrative merge seamlessly from many different points of origin.

In my personal experience I often find women's fiction difficult and opaque. It is just not synchronous with my circadian reading rhythms. But this book adds an intensely provocative perspective of well trod subject matter. In fact it provides a compelling counterpoint to the conventional typecasting in the saga.

This is a worthy recipient of the Booker by gifted writer.