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Powell's Staff: 12 Books to Add to Your 2022 Summer Reading List (1 comment)
Summer has finally found its way to Portland. The bright, blue days are perfect for grabbing a blanket, filling your picnic basket with goodies, and going to the park with a good book...
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Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Award Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780312429980
ISBN10: 0312429983
Condition: Standard


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Awards

2009 Man Booker Prize
2009 National Book Critic's Circle

From Powells.com

25 Books to Read Before You Die: 21st Century

These books create a stunning portrait of contemporary American life.


Staff Pick

In this masterpiece (and its equally excellent sequel, Bring Up the Bodies), Hilary Mantel accomplishes the unthinkable: she breathes new life into the story of Henry VIII. I understand your skepticism — I didn't think it was possible either! — but somehow, magically, she has done just that. Everything about Wolf Hall is meticulous, from the research to the language to the characterization, and while this level of detail can often feel forced or overly structured, to me the writing felt natural and even a bit wild in its audacity and confidence. This isn't a casual reading experience — the book is long and you feel compelled to take it seriously, drawing it out in order to pay attention to and savor every word — but you will come away from it moved and profoundly changed. Recommended By Leah C., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the kings favor and ascend to the heights of political power

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the kings freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.

Review

"Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is a startling achievement, a brilliant historical novel focused on the rise to power of a figure exceedingly unlikely, on the face of things, to arouse any sympathy at all....This is a novel too in which nothing is wasted, and nothing completely disappears." Stephen Greenblatt, The New York Review of Books

Review

"Wolf Hall is a magnificent service to the language and literature whose early emancipation it depicts and also, in its demystifying of one of history's wickedest men, a service to the justice that Josephine Tey first demanded in The Daughter of Time." Atlantic

Review

"Whether we accept Ms. Mantel's reading of history or not, her characters have a lifeblood of their own.... Her prose is muscular, avoiding cod Tudor dialogue and going for direct modern English. The result is Ms Mantel's best novel yet." Economist

Review

"A novel both fresh and finely wrought: a brilliant portrait of a society in the throes of disorienting change, anchored by a penetrating character study of Henry's formidable advisor, Thomas Cromwell. It's no wonder that her masterful book just won this year's Booker Prize...[Mantel's prose is] extraordinarily flexible, subtle, and shrewd." Washington Post

Review

"[Mantel's] interest is in the question of good and evil as it applies to people who wield great power....She has read Shakespeare closely. One also hears the accents of the young James Joyce." New Yorker

Review

"Wolf Hall has epic scale but lyric texture. Its 500-plus pages turn quickly, winged and falconlike....both spellbinding and believable." New York Times Book Review

Review

"Mantel's abilities to channel the life and lexicon of the past are nothing short of astonishing. She burrows down through the historical record to uncover the tiniest, most telling details, evoking the minutiae of history as vividly as its grand sweep. The dialogue is so convincing that she seems to have been, in another life, a stenographer taking notes in the taverns and palaces of England." Ross King, Los Angeles Times

Review

"Darkly magnificent...Instead of bringing the past to us, her writing, brilliant and black, launches us disconcertingly into the past. We are space-time travelers landed in an alien world." Boston Globe

Review

"Arch, elegant, richly detailed...[Wolf Hall's] main characters are scorchingly well rendered. And their sharp-clawed machinations are presented with nonstop verve in a book that can compress a wealth of incisiveness into a very few well-chosen words." New York Times

Review

"[Mantel's] style implies enormous respect for her readers, as if she believes that we are as intelligent and empathetic as she is, and one of the acute pleasures of reading her books is that we sometimes find ourselves living up to those expectations." Bookforum

Synopsis

In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man, Thomas Cromwell, dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political power. In inimitable style, Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage.

About the Author

Hilary Mantel is the bestselling author of many novels including Wolf Hall, which won the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Bring Up the Bodies, Book Two of the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy, was also awarded the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Award. She is also the author of A Change of Climate, A Place of Greater Safety, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, An Experiment in Love, The Giant, O'Brien, Fludd, Beyond Black, Every Day Is Mother's Day, and Vacant Possession. She has also written a memoir, Giving Up the Ghost. Mantel was the winner of the Hawthornden Prize, and her reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books. She lives in England with her husband.

4.8 24

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.8 (24 comments)

`
Jeffrey Bluhm , July 25, 2021 (view all comments by Jeffrey Bluhm)
First in a series of three, this novel follows Thomas Cromwell as he rises from assistant to the declining Archbishop Wolsey to become a close confidant of King Henry VIII. Though I'm not typically a fan of historical fiction, this series garners such respect that I felt compelled to tackle it again after reading only this novel several years ago. Mantel's writing style is both detailed and distanced - settings in particular are richly described and one gets a good feel for the London of the early 1500s. Conversely, the natures of the various characters, even the protagonist Thomas Cromwell, can be murky, becoming clear only over the course of the entire book. Conversations can be both explicit and vague - quotation marks come and go, so it's not always clear until well into a passage that the words are being spoken and are not simply descriptive. It also behooves the reader to be familiar with the political and religious milieu of the times as, for example, an understanding of the disagreements between Catholics and nascent Protestants is assumed. Still, the overall effect is a worthwhile immersion into the personalities and issues that defined this period of English history. This entry takes the reader up to when Henry's 2nd wife Anne becomes queen, and hints at the difficulties to come in the next installment.

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Richard Friedman , January 30, 2013 (view all comments by Richard Friedman)
Best historical fiction I've ever read.

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Karin Boykin , January 30, 2013
If you love historical fiction that appears to be pretty accurate, you may enjoy Wolf Hall. From Thomas Cromwell to Thomas More, to Henry VIII and the never too far off, Anne Boyeln, the intrigues never cease. The clear imagery of 1520s England pulls you into every scene, complete with sound and smell!! I couldn't put this book down for too long.

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Jen Laverdure , January 24, 2013 (view all comments by Jen Laverdure)
This book was a delight! The story multitasks as it looks at the rise of capitalism and the demise of feudalism, the beginning of the English reformation, the evolving role of class at that time and even the role of women in the 16th century. Ms. Mantel takes us on a ride through history that is told in the very human voice of Thomas Cromwell, a merchant among royalty. Thomas Cromwell is a sympathetic character even as he plots with the king to rid the country of dissenters. The book inspired me to research the characters online between chapters because I was so intrigued. Ms. Mantel brings English history to life so eloquently, you will find yourself wanting more as you polish off this feast of 600 pages. Which is good because there's a sequel!

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Fiordiligi , January 23, 2013 (view all comments by Fiordiligi)
I "read" Wolf Hall in its audiobook incarnation. I think the format may have added to my enjoyment. Sometimes I read too fast, and the spoken word let me savor the writing thoroughly. The impressive sense of a very real human being with a non-modern consciousness, in a context which felt very specific and fully realized, and decidedly different from the present was, for me, unique.

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Nieyda , January 08, 2013 (view all comments by Nieyda)
I couldn't put this down. Probably read it twice from re-reading paragraphs I found particularly juicy. At no time does depth and understanding of character or situation depend on any knowledge of, or interest in the historical period covered. Everything is there on the page in full sensurround 3-D human condition. It is a stunning piece of fiction, and I had no idea what I was in for.

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David Traeger , January 02, 2013
When I was a kid in the 60’s I frequented Ye Old and Rare Books on Hawthorne across from The Bagdad. Mr. Johnson, the owner, used to call historical novels hysterical novels. I thought that was soooo funny and since and always loved historical novels. ( like The Tudor Wench by Elswyth Thane 1932. I still have my mother’s copy bought for her in London by my grandfather during the war.) Its been years since I have read one until Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. I know it is very, very popular but it is that good. My pick for the best book I have read in 2012.

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Patrick Nichols , January 02, 2013
Mantel's authorial style and command is simply stunning. I have never considered myself the least interested in English royal history, but Mantel tells the stories of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, and all those around them in such rich detail I couldn't help but immerse myself in their (fictionalized) worlds. I highly recommend reading Wolf Hall in print rather than as an e-book, as the cast of characters summary and family trees at the front of the book are necessary references in helping keep details straight.

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Dennis Donathan , January 01, 2013
Unusually written and uncommonly fine.

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Christine Robins , January 01, 2013
No book this year drew me into a world as completely as Wolf Hall. I was enthralled and couldn't put it down.

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Peelwhip , January 01, 2013 (view all comments by Peelwhip)
It's a great read, the writing is superb! I was there with Thomas Cromwell, looking over his shoulder as he manoeuvred his way through the life at the court of Henry VIII. Almost started it again straight away!

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MsC , August 14, 2012 (view all comments by MsC)
I feel like the traitor in the midst. I did not love this book overall. I did enjoy the last 200 pages or so, but prior to that Mantel's awkward use of "he" for Cromwell and lack of plot early in the story caused me to put this down and almost quit multiple times. I still don't see why this won the Man Booker prize (and I've loved other prize winners), but I am glad I plodded on to the end.

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beqi , January 20, 2012
This is one of the most compelling and amazing books I've ever read. I don't generally seek out historical fiction, but this book stands alone as a literary achievement even beyond the brilliant historical research that clearly went into it. The character of Thomas Cromwell became real to me, and dear to me, in a palpable and physical way. The world of 1520's England nearly replaced my daily experience and I was transported, moved and informed in the way that only true literature can accomplish. Not only did I want to learn everything possible about this period of time, but I wanted the book to go on forever. This goes on the list of one of my lifer books.

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PJH , January 19, 2012
Mantel's Wolf Hall transcends the melodrama that continues to permeate most works involving the life and times of Henry VIII. Her beautiful prose reveals politics, religion, and the ruling class and infuses reality into these inimitable historic figures. This book made me think, consider, read some more, and ruminate on how our human foibles influence all our actions.

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second gary , January 05, 2012 (view all comments by second gary)
What a meticulously imagined picture "Wolf Hall" offers of London and the circles surrounding Henry VIII in the 1520s and 1530s. It is a book full of pleasures, somehow urgent and leisurely at the same time, and rendered through a fascinating voice and protagonist.

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Limelite , January 04, 2012 (view all comments by Limelite)
From the first page, I knew I was in the hands of a master story-teller and was about to have an original reading experience. Mantel’s novel covers the life of Thomas Cromwell from the time he is secretary to Cardinal Wolsey who is on the outs with Henry VIII to the height of his puissance just after the birth of Elizabeth before the Boleyn family �" and Anne, in particular �" fall out of favor. It is a scheming, violent, tricky time to be alive. The most difficult trick may be to stay alive. It is the time of the great schism between Henry’s England and Pope Clement’s Rome. Heresy is everywhere in Europe: in Henry’s court, in Erasmus’ Low Countries, in Luther’s Germany, in Francis’ Cathar region. In England, burnings for religious divergence and beheadings for political ones are rampant, even when it is difficult to distinguish which treason is being committed �" the political or the religious. After the fall of Wolsey, to whom Cromwell remains loyal, he discovers that writing the laws is the most powerful position in the realm, and so Cromwell sets about pleasing his king and removing his enemies. All the time, this seemingly ruthless courtier is the soul of generosity in his domestic life, bringing up outcasts and orphans of every stripe, finding them good careers and good spouses. He may be ruthless in helping England modernize, seeing that the yoke of Rome is keeping England from asserting itself as a true power on the geopolitical stage, but he is not without mercy, and does everything he can to urge Thomas More from his dogmatic opposition regarding the Law of Succession that disinherits Katherine’s daughter Mary. Because More is an ideological man with unswerving principles and Cromwell is a pragmatic man of adaptive principles, there is no saving More. Wolf Hall refers to the ancestral manse of the Seymores, who at the end of the novel we see Cromwell has set his sights on (in the person of Jane) as the candidate to supply England with its male heir, something Anne could not do. Mantel’s “take” on Cromwell may not precisely coincide with how he was regarded in life. Her portrait of him is extremely favorable, More’s decidedly negative, Anne’s vituperative, Henry’s quixotic, and Wolsey’s magnificent. But all are magnificently rendered in her novel, which may be one of the 100 best books I’ve ever read. I didn’t want it to end, although I’m glad she closed the book on Cromwell before Henry did. Within months of the end of the novel, Cromwell’s star became a flaming meteor that plunged to the scaffold and went out.

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WWallace , January 01, 2012
I know I'm a little late, but this is the best book I read in 2011.

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Judi Taylor , January 01, 2012
Wolf Hall is an excellent read - especially for anyone who enjoys historical fiction. The world of Henry VIII has always intrigued me and I was offered another unique view from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell. I am looking forward to reading the sequel!!

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Erin M , September 29, 2011 (view all comments by Erin M)
This is probably the best historical novel I've ever read. It's the story of Thomas Cromwell, (who is usually painted as a villain in contrast to the saintly - and eventually sainted - Thomas More), an adviser to Henry VIII during and after his split from the Catholic church, and a remarkably shrewd man. The prose is dense, and there are some stylistic choices that can slow you up, but it's so good that you shouldn't mind. I can see how this might be daunting for someone without a fair bit of Tudor-related knowledge, but the lengthy cast of characters and Tudor family tree in the front of the book can be very useful - Hilary Mantel thinks you are smart enough to tackle a book that might make you work a little bit; don't prove her wrong.

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Linda Young , January 29, 2011
I hated to have it end. I hope it is true a sequel is in the works!

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janiemm , January 09, 2011
The author puts you there, England 1529-36, with her incredible attention to detail You breath the same air as the Londoners. Her research is extensive and her development of Thomas Cromwell's thinking and actions during the reign of Henry VIII is extraordinary. Best book I have read in a couple of years.

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Seana Graham , January 04, 2011
I ran into a friend from out of town who had been reading this book recently as well. She said that she now found herself compelled to read everything that Hilary Mantel has written. She also said she thought Mantel had channeled Thomas Cromwell, the protagonist of this book. I instantly concurred.

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ulappa , October 17, 2010 (view all comments by ulappa)
I've enjoyed historical fiction before but was surprised how quickly this book grabbed me and how modern this story felt. Believe me, I know first hand that you don't have to know who Thomas Cromwell is to enjoy this fantastic novel. I'm already looking forward to the sequel!

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Craig Ensz , October 06, 2010 (view all comments by Craig Ensz)
Wolf Hall is a book rich in historical fact and fiction. The times of Oliver Cromwell and his battle for the rights of Englishmen is interesting and provocative. It is a long but captivating story that takes you back in time to witness a timeless struggle that reverberates into our day. A must read for historians and those who enjoy a good read.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780312429980
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
08/31/2010
Publisher:
MACMILLAN PUBLISHING SERVICES
Pages:
640
Height:
1.30IN
Width:
5.40IN
Thickness:
1.00
Series Number:
1
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2010
Author:
Hilary Mantel
Author:
Hilary Mantel
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Subject:
Biographical

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