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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

 cover for Wolf Hall

The following information has been sourced from the Harper Collins Publishing page for the book.

Description:

Go backstage during the most dramatic period in English history: the reign of Henry VIII.

England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey′s clerk, and later his successor.

Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

From one of our finest living writers, WOLF HALL is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion, suffering and courage.

See Reading Guide.

About the Author:

Hilary Mantel was born in Derbyshire. She was educated at a convent and later studied law. After ten years abroad in Africa and the Middle East, she returned to Britain in 1985 to make a career as a writer. She is working on her ninth novel.

Awards:

Winner - 2009 Man Booker Prize 
Winner - 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.
Winner - 2010 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.
Winner - 2010 The Morning News Tournament of Books.

Author Interviews:

Man Booker Prize Interview - Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall

Video interview with Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall from The Guardian (UK)

Reviews:

The Making of a King by John Self from The Blurb (AUS) - includes embedded author video from YouTube

Review of Wolf Hall by Olivia Laing in The Guardian (UK)

A Man for All Tasks and Times by Martin Rubin in The Wall Street Journal (US)