Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

 

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel

Wolf Hall is the first in the Thomas Cromwell trilogy and my first experience with Hilary Mantel. All I can say is WOW! What a powerhouse of a write! Mantel is a genius.

This first book tells the story of Cromwell's rise from a poor, beaten child through his work as an assistant to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in England, to his rise as King Henry VIII's right hand man. It is the story of a man who changes his life, who raises a family of mutual love, loses most of them, and decides he has nothing to lose, so he uses his intelligence, his ability to read people and to sway them in order to make something of himself. To give his remaining son a better life than he had with all of the possibilities open to the nobility. Along the way Cromwell makes those who thought they were above him worship the ground he walks on and puts them in a servile position. He also takes into his house and employ a collection of outcasts and downtrodden people who, because of his care for and of the, choose to do whatever it is he also. of them. Cromwell uses them to gain information and advantage, which leads to his meteoric rise in the ranks.

Alongside Cromwell's journey is that of King Henry, who wants to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn in an attempt to secure a line of succession for his heirs to the throne. Hoping for a male heir. Cromwell must work against the church--indeed, the Pope--and find a way to get Henry and Anne what they want. He is wildly successful, going to any means to see it done.

This book is amazing. The writing is stupendous. Cromwell is both endearing and someone to be feared. Mantel made me really care about him and his house. Likewise, the other major characters in the book have flesh on their bones; they are vital and alive on the page. The pace of this big book is quick, almost montage-like in its rapidity at times, with breaks of intense focus on various points she wants us to settle on. The imagery and descriptions in Wolf Hall are unparalleled, and the language is like clay in Mantel's hands. It does whatever she wants it to do with surprising effects. I was fully invested in the story and can't wait to see where she takes me next in Bring Up the Bodies, the second book in the trilogy.

This is easily a 5-star book!