Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A book review
King Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell has long been one of history's villains. Wolf Hall reconsiders the verdict. This densely packed, long and witty novel, portrays him as a man of intellect, daring, practicality, ambition, humor and – here's the surprise – kindness and affection. It works. The portrait is psychologically rich and well supported with historical detail.
Cromwell, a commoner's son, made himself indispensable as an aide to the wily and powerful Cardinal Wolsey during the first part of Henry's reign. Weathering Wolsey's downfall, he then succeeded where Wolsey had failed in constructing a route for Henry to set aside Katherine of Aragon and crown Anne Boleyn as his queen. The central conflict in Wolf Hall is between Cromwell and Thomas More.
More, beheaded in 1535 for refusing to swear an oath to defend the right of Anne's children to succeed to the throne over Katherine's daughter, was canonized as a Catholic martyr four hundred years later. Since then, the struggle between More and Cromwell has been portrayed as a clash between a courageous saint and his evil persecutor. More's admirers have glossed over his crusade against Protestantism, which led to the torture and burning of men who distributed Tyndale's English New Testament. Wolf Hall brings this back into the open, a reminder that religious steadfastness is not necessarily a virtue, nor is flexibility the Mark of Evil.
The best novels about the complexities of power politics do not make light reading. In Wolf Hall, a profusion of pronouns with unclear antecedents slows things down (a doubtful "he" usually refers to Cromwell), but readers who relish a good political novel will forgive this one flaw in an otherwise masterful work. Among the novel's many pleasures is a brilliant three-page overview of English royal history (in Cardinal Wolsey's voice) which, besides being delightfully humorous, makes it clear why the begetting of a male heir seemed so crucial not just to Henry personally but to England's hopes for peace and prosperity. (2009, 532 pages)