Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell #1) [2009]
by Hillary Mantel
Rating: 4/5
Genres : Historical Fiction, Booker Prize Winner 2009, England, Royalty, Treachery
This is not one of the most easiest of books to quickly navigate through. For one, it refers to a period of time and events that are not part of common knowledge. And second, there are a lot of characters some with no significance or bearing on the plot and they make it a little confusing to follow the narrative. Otherwise, there is ample wit and veiled humor that makes even ruthlessness seem funny in the actions of kings and queens or their high appointed officials. Hillary Mantel's style of writing is also very picturesque and some conversational exchanges between the main characters are worth bookmarking and reading over and over.
It also felt strangely funny at times that so much narrative has gone into explaining the circumstances surrounding a king marry his second wife while making his first marriage void. 😂😂
I cannot say who my favorite character in the story for the three or four main players in the game, every one is flawed in their own way. There is King Henry Tudor 8 and he wants to annul his two decade marriage to his first wife and get a new wife against the dictates of christen-dom and Rome/pope because she couldn't bestow him with a male heir/son. There is Anne Boleyn who sets her vicious and ambitious eyes upon the throne and cleverly, maliciously seduces the king for seven years to become his lawful wife. Fate perhaps has the final laugh in it that the two times she becomes pregnant, she either gives birth to a girl or miscarries it.
And coming to the character through whose eyes we see the narrative take place and who raises to the stature of being a key figure in the king's court without whom the king cannot function from being a horse smith's son .. the person whom England revered as being the most important next only to the king and all the counsellors to the king feared for his personality and fierce nature .. Thomas Cromwell .. ambitious and seemingly loyal but more to his own self interests than any higher principle it seems .. getting along with everyone important and looking after his household with the pride of a lion. Thomas Cromwell is the one who is instrumental is bringing about the marriage of Henry and Anne which they both so desire .. he is the one who gets Katherine out of the way without making much fuss .. he looks after the treasury and gets all things the king wants done for him. As a boy, he was severely subjected to wantonness and abuse by his father who seemed to have hated his boy's guts. Thomas runs away from his family to live in Spain, Italy where he takes up fighting for money and later studies law for a living. He comes back to England as fates dictate him to do and joins the supporters of the then Lord Chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wosley. He becomes an ardent supporter and most loyal follower to the cardinal till the day he dies. The cardinal was entrusted with the duty to align Rome/Pope with King Henry's desire to cancel his long standing marriage and take up Anne Boleyn for his new wife .. he fails in his mission and gets ousted out of his office. He dies a few months after on a trip to be tried for treason which was incited by the king's councilors who hated him. Cromwell gets into the close circle of the king to plead the case of the cardinal and by virtue of his cleverness and ability to handle tough situations becomes indispensable to the royal circle. Thomas More replaces the cardinal as the next Lord Chancellor and he is known for his ruthlessness, tormenting and torturing of people/souls who deviate from the dictates of pure christianity/christendom and he is one of those few top officials who is indicted for association with a heretic prophetess. The prophetess, an Elizabeth Barton claims to have communion with devils and angels and she predicts the death of king Henry should he get married to Anne Boleyn. Eventually she is brought into interrogation and under Cromwell's questioning breaks down and accepts herself to be a fraud. All her associates and followers are tried and hanged to death like her. Cromwell tries to save Thomas More multiple times trying to make him plead guilty even if it is only to save his life .. but strange as he is , he remains staunch in his resolve to save his "soul" from damnation. Well .. so the story ends with his trial and the king and queen heading off for a summer retreat so that they may once again hope for a son.
The title "Wolf Hall" seems to refer to the society around Thomas Cromwell where everyone is in someway or another not trustworthy and in order to save one's own neck, one has to bend to the will of another. Thomas Cromwell plays this game to perfection or else he wouldn't have gotten to where he did and he has himself entwined with all the intricacies of the royal court like a vicious serpent. Anne Boleyn is a malicious woman with little regard or love for another or so it seemed from the story and the King is shown mostly to be a compassionate and devoted man easily prone to tricks and cajolery. The cardinal Thomas Wosely is a victim of injustice as he of all the supporters to the king had his best interests at heart and only got deceived by perhaps a cruel fate. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series. This is a book that makes a stronger impact with more than one reading and I may not do it but will try to re-read if chance permits. :)
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