Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Hilary Mantel surpassed herself with this new and unique take on Thomas Cromwell: zealous English Reformation advocate and chief minister to King Henry VIII.
Not only did she successfully break the mold of this erstwhile villainously drawn character, but she also found her own unique version of 'olde English' language to tell her tale of a fascinating man. (I was hearing distinctly Chaucerian echoes from these weightily bound pages.)
We see blood pumped into his cheeks, air breathed into his lungs, rounded dimension and human authenticity duly awarded to a figure suffering an all too often two dimensionally dastardly literary treatment by so many. Here we see beneath his hard, scheming shell, wherein lurks a smart yet endearing family man, deeply respectful of his old master, Cardinal Wolsey and sincerely eager for social reform.
Mantel's everyday Tudor world is one we feel we have really visited, smelled and tasted, her characterisations exquisitely raw and appealing.
This is not a book to be skipped through, but is immeasurably rewarding for the requisite patience and focus it demands. Whilst I actually liked its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, far better, that does not detract from this first instalment's well deserved 5-star rating from me.
The 2015 six-part BBC TV adaptation, with the wondrous Claire Foy as Ann Boleyn truly lived up to the book.
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