Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall (2009, Fourth Estate)
651 pages
English language
Published Oct. 3, 2009 by Fourth Estate.
Wolf Hall (2009) is a historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".
The book is the first in a trilogy; the sequel Bring Up the Bodies was published in 2012. The last book in the trilogy is The Mirror and the Light (2020), which covers the last four years of Cromwell's life.
The longer this book went on, the less I liked it. After Anne Boleyn married Henry, I felt like the book lost its focus.
The longer this book went on, the less I liked it. After Anne Boleyn married Henry, I felt like the book lost its focus.
