WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate, 2009)
History has never been my strong point. The sum total of what I recall from lessons about Henry VIII at high school are that (a) He had six wives (b) He was obese and (c) He was instrumental in bringing about the dissolution of the monasteries.
This is not exactly a vast sum of knowledge about a reign that lasted almost 38 years until his death in 1547.
Actually, there’s not a massive amount of specific information about the life of the king in this fictionalised account covering the period 1500 – 1535.
The focus of the story is Henry’s fixer in chief Thomas Cromwell who rose from humble beginnings to become the most powerful man in England. Like Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction, he’s a a problem solver and master tactician. His diplomacy and keen intellect is such that you can well understand why Henry says “I keep you, Master Cromwell, because you are as cunning as a bag of serpents”. Continue reading
