Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Last year, my husband can confirm, I became completely engrossed in the world of Henry VIII's court. Why? Wolf Hall, a mini series by PBS, was suggested to me because I had been watching Miss Scarlett. I started the series not knowing about the book trilogy that caused a major sensation. I finished the series and immediately needed to know more about the characters/real people Hilary Mantel was writing about. All I knew about Henry VIII was from Anne of a Thousand Days and a little that my mom had shared with me. I knew I needed to read the book, and read a biography about this incredible person, Thomas Cromwell.

Book Synopsis:

Henry VIII is the golden renaissance king of England. He is handsome, smart, and full of energy. Unfortunately, he has been unable to produce a legitimate son with his wife Katharine of Aragon. As this scenario continues to play out, Henry finds himself wandering more and more and finally his desire lands on Anne Boleyn.

Anne is just back from the French court, free to marry, and flirtatious. The King cannot help but fall in love and become obsessed with this woman. However, divorce is a very tricky business. In the end, there is only one man the King and England can count on, Thomas Cromwell.

Initial Thoughts:

By the time I got around to reading Wolf Hall I admit I was a little nervous. The PBS miniseries had blown me away and I loved the biography (review coming next month) so much that I was worried the actual book might not live up to the hype. My friends, it does not disappoint.

When I first started reading Wolf Hall I was completely confused as to why readers got mixed up about what was true and what was not. The author, Hilary Mantel, has never tried to push her writing off as real. She's very transparent that she researched everything, and then took it a step farther. Mantel's said "I went where historians couldn't go." However, about a quarter of the way through I too was asking myself, did that really happen? Could this possibly be true?

The character of Thomas Cromwell is an extraordinary man. He begins his life as a blacksmith's son with nothing to his name. His father is abusive in every sense of the word, and the only two people who seem to care for him are his sister and uncle. But, Thomas has something that can't be taken away no matter how many beatings he takes. His mind. He uses his brain throughout the first book to make things happen the way he wants.

I also love that we don't meet Anne Boleyn for a long time. She is like the movie star you're waiting to see (or read about in this case). Besides Henry VIII, she's the most infamous character in this historical tale. I love this aspect of the book because there is so little historically known about Anne. She created so much chaos for Henry, Katherine of Aragon, and the church of England; yet we only have reports from others about her. Usually reports from people who didn't like her.

At the beginning, I found Anne to live up to the rumors. However, after she gives birth to Elizabeth, I just wonder if she was already starting to see the writing on the wall. With Henry, it seems that nothing is forever, and I found myself questioning if Anne was your typical savior girlfriend who saw a bad boy and thought she was the only one who could save him. Poor Henry, Katherine won't give him a son. Poor Henry, he goes after other women because Katherine isn't enough for him. Poor Henry...

There's another infamous character/person in this book and that is Sir Thomas More. Thomas More is the most disturbing character for me in this book. Perhaps because I've read Utopia, A Man For All Seasons, and had a completely different idea of who he was before beginning this series. I'm also shocked to learn that historians don't seem that interested in More. While there are many biographies about Thomas Cromwell, there are hardly any on Sir Thomas More. He wrote many things during his lifetime, there seems to be plenty of information to build a book around, and yet...where are the biographies? Therefore, I have no idea if the portrayal of Sir Thomas More is in anyway accurate or not.

Final Thoughts

For a story that could have easily been quite vulgar and uncomfortable to read (as many TV series have taken this route), I found it refreshing to get to know Thomas Cromwell and the goings on at court with Anne vs. Katherine without all the vulgarity. I'm more of a Greek drama spectator. I don't mind when bad, scary, eh hem personal, violent things happen in stories. That's life. However, I don't need or want to see all of these things before my eyes. My imagination is excellent, and when characters discuss the happenings they usually use strong language anyways to describe said events which leave little to the imagination anyways.

I also found it interesting that Hilary Mantel wrote almost in first person as Thomas, but used pronouns "he" instead of "I." You get to know Cromwell very intimately and yet there is a wall between himself and you, the reader. You are not Cromwell experiencing his life, you are an observer with the ability to go where he goes and see what he sees. It is almost written like a play instead of a novel.

If you haven't guessed, I would 100% recommend this book to anyone and everyone. The writing is excellent, the story is exciting, and Thomas Cromwell leaves much to be inspired by. Even if you don't know anything about Thomas Cromwell or Henry VIII there's a lot of historical data in the book to catch you up. Read it, research the people you find interesting, and talk about it with your friends.