WOLF HALL: HILLARY MANTEL

It's easy to see why Mantel's work won the Booker Prize, a tour de force of the world of Henry the VIII and his advisor Thomas Cromwell.  I admit to struggling with it,  that it took me quite awhile to work my way through the tomb, able to read it mostly in small doses.  Summarizing it would be just as difficult, as there is a cast of at least fifty characters, all historical, and the book based  much of its narrative on fact.

There are two major parts, the first section where Thomas Cromwell cuts his teeth as chief councilor to Cardinal Wolsey, Bishop of Rome and Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII. Wolsey wields power dictatorially and his downfall comes when he fails to gain an annulment for Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn, who he hopes will present him with a male heir. Anne succeeds in convincing Henry that Wolsey was plotting against him, and Wolsey is arrested in 1529 and all his property was taken away.  He dies when moved from one reclaimed residence to another.  All of this we see through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell, son of a blacksmith, who loves and admires Wolsey, but benefits from his fall.

The second half deals with Cromwell's rise to prominence, to power, respected by Henry and Anne, thus his success.  Much of the last half of the book allows us into the mind Cromwell, how he becomes successful in gaining an annulment for Henry's marriage to Catherine and becomes a strong advocate of the English Reformation, which saw Henry become head of the Church of England rather than the Pope.  A sub plot involves Sir Thomas More and his refusal to go along with the annulment of Catherine's marriage, the English Reformation, and Henry's head of the Church of England.  This refusal, or moral courage,  results, eventually, in More's head being chopped off for refusing to go along with Henry VIII's desires.  Cromwell does all he can to convince More to acquiesce but More refuses to compromise his principles.  This text ends with More's death, the ascent of Henry as head of the church, and marriage to Anne though there are hints it won't last long, as we know.

The book is tremendously well researched, so that you feel you are right there with Thomas, solving all all the problems of early 16th century Great Britain, balancing competing interests,  as well as pleasing a King and his wife.  It takes great subtly and diplomacy, knowing when to keep your mouth shout, a suggestion of compliance but artful, rational, and convincing arguments, so that Cromwell's ideas end up becoming those of the King.  We could certainly use him in today's Congress. I found the book fascinating, filled with facts and history, but as compelling as I thought it would be.  I am going to wait a couple of months to read the sequel,  Bring Up The Bodies, which narrates, I assume, the fall of Cromwell.