Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies

Thomas Cromwell #1-2

by Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell novels are the most formidable literary achievements of recent times. Wolf Hall begins in England in 1527. England 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 oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, master of deadly intrigue, and implacable in his ambition.

Bring Up the Bodies unlocks the darkly glittering court of Henry VIII, where Thomas Cromwell is now chief minister. Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn and has fixed his eye on the demure Jane Seymour. Anne has failed to give England an heir and rumors of her infidelity creep through the court. Over a few terrifying weeks, to dislodge her from her throne, Cromwell ensnares Anne in a web of conspiracy--acting to save his life, serve his king and secure his position. But from the bloody theater of the queen's final days, no one will emerge unscathed.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Audiobook, Ebooks, Literary Fiction

877 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2012

About the author

Hilary Mantel was 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 Wolf Hall Trilogy, was also awarded the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Book Award. She also wrote 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, Vacant Possession, and 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.

Reviews

[Stephen King]

Together they form one long novel (with a third to follow) about the life of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s political and financial adviser. Mantel takes a -figure history has cast as a calculating villain and throws a warm glow over his family, his motives, and his implacable resolve. The language is rich, and the scenes leading to Anne Boleyn’s execution are unforgettable.

[Uco Library]

There have so been many novels written about Tudor England and the intrigues of Henry VIII, one would think nothing more could be said. That is why the books Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies were such a pleasant surprise. Hilary Mantel brings new life to this subject with the first two installments in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy. The books tell the tale of Henry VIII’s court through the eyes of Henry’s top advisor Thomas Cromwell, a person, who in Mantel’s opinion has been historically misunderstood.

In Wolf Hall, we are introduced to Thomas Cromwell, a man from humble origins who with his knowledge and dexterity with the law, is able to rise to power in the court of Henry VIII. Wolf Hall sets the stage with the characters and drama. By the end of the book, Henry is at last able to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn. The story picks up in Bringing up the Bodies, when Anne’s power over Henry is waning, and Cromwell is charged with finding a reason to expel her from court.

Both books do an amazing job of describing the characters and complicated political intrigues of the time. The language is rich and meaty; bringing to life a historical figure that is often on the fringes in other historical novels of this era.

There are many characters in this book, and the threads of the story are complex. You really have to be present and have to actively consume this book. I read Wolf Hall in 2009 and came away confused. The long list of characters was difficult to keep track of and I confess I am not that familiar with the politics of that time, so it really didn’t make much sense. When I read it again, things became clearer, and I was able to transition right into Bringing up the Bodies which I could not put down.

Months later I am still thinking about these books and I am looking forward to the last installment in this series, The Mirror and the Light. These are thought provoking books and well worth the effort.

[Alma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Série

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I liked reading about this period, I felt that the author wrote as though the reader is intimately knowledgeable of this period of history and the characters. I think that historical fiction should elucidate the history of the period, and giving some context and background helps to do this. Dialogue between characters can elucidate the context. The absence of this context seems an arrogant exercise by the author to write for herself ignoring the future reader.

As many commentators have noted about this book, the use of "he" usually meaning "Thomas Cromwell" was disingenuous. We learn to expect that "he" will refer to the antecedent(occasionally it did), but more often the antecedent might be another male character "Henry" or "Wolsey" or any number of others. So one would have to re-read the paragraph to discern which "he" acts or thinks or speaks.

I do not think this is good writing. One can write - as Mantel does -- from a particular point of view and still fill in the reader on background. I'm willing to bet that even those most educated in English history would have trouble following this narrative.

And I never have understood why Wolf Hall was the name. . . Is it only to presage the eventual marriage of Henry to Jane Seymour?

I would welcome others explaining why this book was entitled to receive the Mann Booker prize when its execution (pardon the pun) was so flawed.

[Jsmith1000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear husband gave me both of these books for Christmas after I had heard the author interviewed over NPR, and I was mesmerized by the idea that Thomas Cromwell could be depicted as anything other than a pompous ass (historical literature has been hard on the guy). What an incredible week I had reading both of these books in one fell swoop...Mantel paints a very interesting picture of Cromwell as right hand to King Henry VIII, and as it is historical fiction, definitely a different take on his personality than what I've seen in the past.

I highly, highly recommend both books and am definitely looking forward to the third book in the trilogy, whenever it is released.

[Kate Cudahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just my reaction to Wolf Hall - I'm saving myself for a later date with Ms Mantel and Bring up the Bodies. But I was so excited about this book, I couldn't keep schtum so here goes.

As usual with prize winning novels that everyone else has already read, I'm late to the party on this one. And I regret that - because this was without a doubt the best book I've read so far this year. What I liked in particular was that Mantel took what is essentially a very familiar story and did something so fresh with it, so different, that it felt as if I were encountering it for the first time.

I think the fact she chooses to tell this from Cromwell's perspective was an absolute stroke of genius - because as a character he spans the chasm between outsider and insider: a blacksmith's boy, a common man who at the same time becomes party to some of the country's most prized secrets. Both an observer and a player, it's his genius for manipulation, his intellectual graft which really drives the narrative and sucks the reader into his world.

Mantel's decision to write in present tense also brought an immediacy to the story which is often lacking from historical fiction. And her idiosyncratic syntax was a very clever way of personalising the narrative even further - it really felt as if she were getting inside Cromwell's mind. The non-chronological structure was also a challenge to traditional methods of narrating historical fiction. Why should writers cling to boring, linear methods of relaying a past which we don't necessarily remember in straight lines? Why shouldn't the narrative hop about as erratically and as fluidly as Cromwell's memories and patterns of thought?

It's a novel which made me entirely rethink the way in which I personally feel about this epic period in British history, a period which would usher in the battle for freedom of conscience, in which the most privately held beliefs would hold public importance and in which the thoughts and deeds of normal men and women would eventually become as significant as those of monarchs. There's nothing overtly stylised or romanticising about Wolf Hall, and it's probably the first work of historical fiction I've ever read which made me feel I was reading about genuine people with genuine lives and problems. I found it totally absorbing and can't wait to read more of Mantel's fiction.

[Sarah Knowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book as soon as I had finished Wolf Hall and was not disappointed, as I have been with sequels in the past. The transition between the two books is seamless and I was saved the awful 'how will I live without this book' syndrome for a while at least.

Thomas Cromwell has now entered my list of characters in books that I have fallen in love with (will check now if such a list exists on Goodreads). Starting with Black Beauty and a German Shepherd dog called Greatheart, I can see very few connections between the characters on this list which also includes Hardy's trumpet major, LeCarre's perfect spy, Precious Ramotswe and the more usual Austin and Bronte heroes. I hadn't expected to fall wholeheartedly for this particular character from history, but suffice to say I am missing him and hoping that there will be a third book.

[Cat Sheely · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - or could not finish. The writing style was almost primitive and I kept having to re-read to figure out who was speaking. Not for me.

[Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Movies based on books rarely live up to the magic of the book. That’s not a condemnation of movies or the movie industry, but rather a reflection of greatest source of magic of all—man’s imagination. No reality ever lives up to my best fantasies.
Normally, I read a book first and then—if a subsequent film production gets rave reviews—I’ll see the movie. Occasionally, the movie will live magnificently up to all my wildest expectations; To Kill a Mockingbird is a good example of movie-from-book perfection. And occasionally, rarely, a movie will surpass the book. I thought The Graduate a mediocre book, but the movie was and always will be a classic portrait of a particular time and place.
Which brings us to Wolf Hall. I’m not sure how and why I missed the book. It won a Man-Booker Prize (Great Britain’s equivalent of the Pulitzer, though over there they might say the Pulitzer is America’s equivalent of the Booker) and then author Hilary Mantel turned right around and won another Man-Booker for the sequel to Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies. That is, I believe, the only time Booker prizes have ever been awarded to a novel and then its sequel.
Not only had I missed the book(s), but at first, when I saw the trailers on PBS for the film version, I wasn’t all that intrigued. Downton Abbey had just finished its last episode of the season and it was hard to imagine anything equaling that. So, a mini-series based on Henry VIII and his wretched excesses, told from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, one of the king’s, ah, shall we say, less fastidious enablers… Ho, hum. I’ve read my history; I’ve seen A Man for All Seasons; been there, done that. But a Close Relative By Marriage insisted we watch, and after the first ten minutes you could have set fire to my chair and I wouldn’t have left. That’s how good the production was, and Mark Rylance, the British actor who stars as Thomas Cromwell, gave one of the most compelling performances I have ever seen: quiet, understated, absolutely convincing, and absolutely electrifying. So consider this also a rave review for the PBS series.
(By the way, for those of you interested in historical tidbits: any great English house with “abbey” as part of its name, as in Downton Abbey, is so named because when Henry VIII, aided by Thomas Cromwell, took the great monasteries from the Pope, he awarded some of those lands to favored courtiers who retained the appellation “abbey.”)
After the second episode I galloped to my desk and ordered copies of both Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for myself and just about everybody I know, and as soon as they arrived, I dove in. Now I know why Hilary Mantel won the Man-Booker twice. She deserves it.
In case you’re even more of a troglodyte than I and you’ve never heard of Hilary Mantel or Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, yes, it’s Henry VIII and all his unfortunate wives and all those men and women who circled around the king and his court like flies around a corpse, but… But how much do you actually know about Thomas Cromwell? Ah. That’s the point. That’s part of Hilary Mantel’s genius: she has taken a famous and influential man about whom little is known and gone to town with him.
Thomas Cromwell is one of those mysterious figures in history who beggar the imagination. Acknowledged as arguably the single most influential minister (that’s minister in the political sense, not ecclesiastical) in all of English history, he seems to have sprung fully evolved out of his own imagining and will power. Even the authoritative Encyclopedia Britannica describes his origins and early life as “obscure.” Probably (no one knows for certain) born around 1485; probably (no one knows for certain) born in Putney, at that time a decidedly seedy suburb of London; probably (no one know for certain) born to a man who may have been named Cromwell, but who may have been named Smyth who was probably (no one knows for certain) a blacksmith, but who might have been a brewer or a cloth merchant or all of the above; Thomas Cromwell probably (no one knows for certain) and improbably somehow ended up in Italy early in his life; he probably (no one knows for certain) lived in the Low Countries (think Flanders, Holland, Belgium); and he was probably (no one knows for certain) somehow associated with the London Merchant Adventurers. His early history contains the qualifying words “seems,” “appears,” “might have,” and “probably” almost more than any others.
And yet, somehow, out of these inauspicious beginnings, Thomas Cromwell suddenly burst into history in 1520 as a solicitor (that’s “lawyer” to we simple-minded Americans) to the great and immensely powerful Cardinal Wolsey. How did a man from such meager beginnings in such a rigidly stratified society manage to catapult himself into the halls of power and the pages of history?
I stumbled across an interview on the internet with Hilary Mantel, and that question is pretty much what compelled her to start her journey. So that’s half the genius.
The other half is Mantel’s writing.
To quote Rudyard Kipling:
“There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,
And every single one of them is right.”
Doubtless very true, and who am I to question as great a writer as Rudyard Kipling? But some methods of construction are righter than others, and Hilary Mantel’s writing is breathtaking.
Of all the varied ways of constructing tribal lays, the one that appeals most to me is the kind where a master artist plays with his or her materials. Think Shakespeare. Think Faulkner. Think Cormac McCarthy. Think Hilary Mantel. The English language, so rich and varied, so ripe with multiple subtle meanings, lends itself to a kind of imaginative playfulness, verbal pyrotechnics, if you like, that amaze and delight. She writes in the present tense, third person singular, which lends an urgency to her tale, but she jumps back and forth in time, sometimes in a sentence, sometimes in a paragraph, sometimes in a section, using the mnemonic device of Cromwell’s memories to give us information about him and his past. But it is the oblique grace with which she tells her story that is so delightful. I will give you one example.
Bring Up the Bodies, the second volume of what will eventually become Mantel’s trilogy, opens with Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII out hawking. In Wolf Hall, Cromwell’s daughters have died, but he cannot allow himself the luxury of grief. He lives to serve the king, and as a minister to the king he cannot indulge in such distracting luxuries as grief or rage or love or hate. Whatever he might feel or want must be subsumed in service to the throne. So in “Falcons,” the opening chapter of Bring Up the Bodies, Cromwell and Henry are sitting their horses and watching their falcons, and a lesser, more pedestrian, writer might have opened the book with a paragraph such as:
“Cromwell watches his falcons plunging after their prey. He has named the birds after his daughters, and as he and the king watch from horseback, this one, Grace, takes her prey in silence, returning to his fist with only a slight rustling of feathers and a blood-streaked breast…”
And so on.
Now, consider this, Señorita; consider how Hilary Mantel handles the opening.
“His children are falling from the sky. He watches from horseback, acres of England stretching behind him; they drop, gilt-winged, each with a blood-filled gaze. Grace Cromwell hovers in thin air. She is silent when she takes her prey, silent as she glides to his fist. But the sounds she makes then, the rustle of feathers and the creak, the sigh and riffle of pinion, the small cluck-cluck from her throat, these are sounds of recognition, intimate, daughterly, almost disapproving. Her breast is gore-streaked and flesh clings to her claws.”
If you don’t like that, you don’t like chocolate cake.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what Mantel thought was wrong with Cromwell's name that she had to substitute it with a 'he' every time she refers to him. It would have made sense if there had been no other men in the narration, but there were and too many times it was necessary to re-read whole paragraphs to find out which 'he' she was talking about.

In a few occasions there were entire pages of irrelevant non-action and seemingly intentionally confusing writing, like when 'Liz Cromwell' seems to be flying (years after she's dead) and you're left wondering if you're reading some one's dream until a page or two later of the flight's description when it is finally explained that names of dead ladies have been given to birds.

A great novel and good historical fiction as the rest of the reviews show, but these unnecessary gimmicks that distract from the content of the novel make it a bit difficult to understand that it got so many awards.

In a few places it is a page-turner, but mostly it is not.

Good writing is that which is easy to read. This was not always.

[Karen Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely read two books in a series one right after the other, even if I liked the first one. It's like eating too much chocolate. No matter how good it is, it gets cloying after a while. I bought Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies as a pairs deal for Kindle on Amazon, so one just flowed into the other. When the writing is this good and the story this compelling - no one has won the Man Booker two years in a row - there is no danger of suffering from too much of a good thing. Now I'm tapping my impatient fingers waiting for Ms. Mantel to finish the final book. Hurry up, already!

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick reread of the first two books ready for the third. It’s a powerful capturing of the politics of the time - this is a Cromwell whose destruction of More is a revenge for Wolsey and Tyndale, who cares for the reformation and the poor law reforms that parliament opposes, yet to appease his master cold bloodedly destroys Ann Boleyn. A multi faceted man of his, and any, time.

And so to book 3.

[Merrywhyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mantel's tome is written from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, the central figure of this telling of history and the common and self-made man who triumphed as Henry the VIII's closest adviser. Henry's wish to divorce queen Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn provided motivation provided motivation for Henry and England's challenge to the power of the Church of Rome, a challenge Cromwell saw in broad, practical and forward-thinking terms.

We mostly agree that this was a hard to follow, tough read in which the author provided little help to the reader. Beyond this, we were divided in our opinion of the worthiness of Mantel's book - was all the work of reading worth what we gained? We agree that we learned a great deal of history, but Mantel, writing in the mind of Cromwell, often engendered confusion. Some of us were able to proceed without letting a lack of clarity getting in our way and so were able to recap the benefits of an inside look at a fascinating period of history ripe with a cast of equally interesting characters and influences.

[Susan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read from Mantel about my favorite era-- the wonderful Tudors. I do wonder though if Anne Boleyn was as cunning and nasty as she is portrayed, or if some artistic licensure was used. Either way I think she was trying to survive in a world dominated by her father's ambitions, and the rest of the court of King Henry. Difficult circumstances for any woman or " low born" medieval person to survive in.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This perspective from Cromwell's point of view leaves no doubt to the ridiculousness of King Henry's court. You know how things will end and can still relish the anticipation of Ann's demise. A bit long, though I listened to on CD so could perhaps take in small doses

[Phill Featherstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this immediately after Wolf Hall. Now I can't wait for volume 3. There is a growing sense of the noose tightening around Cromwell, who's locked on the path to his destruction as inexorably as the hero of a Greek tragedy

[David Hedges · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to balance the account of Thomas Cromwell, the character I was recently playing in A Man For All Seasons. An absolutely fascinating read. So interesting how different perceptions of the same person and same period can be. Who knows which is true?! I guess somewhere in between...

[Joseph Gorski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilary Mantel is an exceptional writer. This is a MUST for any fan of historical fiction.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilary Mantel is so bloody brilliant. Unlike the data-dump some historical fiction writers give the reader (I won't name names), Mantel gently slides you into Cromwell's head and you pick up what you need to know about the history by the way. The real focus is Cromwell's relationships and the empathy Mantel builds for him. I cannot wait for The Mirror and the Light -- the third book in the trilogy. Unfortunately, Mantel says it won't be published until 2019. (https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...)

I, for one, am holding my breath...

[Scott Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mantel must have done a PhD thesis-worth of research before she wrote this series of novels. The reader really gets the sense of being part of Cromwell's inner circle, or his household. Yet these are also captivating novels, which make us forget we already know what happens to Anne Boleyn (and Thomas Cromwell for that matter). The second book, Bringing Up the Bodies, keeps up the pace of the first, which leads me to have high hopes for the third and final part of the trilogy.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

If only giving a rating of the quality of the writing and the ability of this author to create historical fiction, I could have rated it a 5 plus. If only rating my interest in the subject matter of the book and the angst I felt relative to how painstakingly slow the story moves to paint the picture of Thomas Cromwell's role in the court of Henry VIII, I could have rated it a 2. To be honest, when I learned that the author passed away last week and that a trilogy of books starting with this one, were one of her claims to fame (and she wrote historical fiction), I wanted to experience her writing for my edification. A very imaginative writer but that time period has never been something I enjoy reading about. I was probably a downtrodden peasant in a previous life......

[Grace A · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, scratched the same itch as the secret history

[Meghanka . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully crafted the book brings to life medieval court life in England, it's intrigues and the absolutely uncertain position that power begets.

[Guy Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtlety of this, in writing and characterisation, is genuinely masterful. 'He, Cromwell...' is a phrase used again and again: a little stylistic nod to a man absolutely intent on impressing his mark on the world around him. Mantel is wonderful in evoking the time and place, but I think her real skill is in inhabiting the head of a man from another century so entirely.

[Dominique Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book as a present by someone who assumed it was the first book in the series, instead of the second. Also, the 'Wolf Hall' serial was just about to be shown on TV, so I tossed up whether to read it before or after watching it. I read it after. And you know what? I just couldn't fault this book - and I'm a really picky reader... It was a shock to the system at first - what with me arriving half way through, I couldn't understand a word of what was going on. There is a really unique present tense, yet third person narrative style going on. Hard to get a handle on at first because you don't even know who's talking. And I normally abhor the present tense. And I'd avoided the book because - well - yawn - TUDOR - AGAIN! Anyone would think the period of history Britain ever existed in was Tudor, Victorian and 2nd World War (and maybe the Raj?). But no, I was gripped. Ok, I know she won all those prizes - so it shouldn't be a surprise - but hey, she deserved them! And I don't say that often. I was utterly gripped. And the beheading scenes were so visceral that I actually felt physically sick and a bit traumatised. Which after all, one probably should. It's horrific to think that in some parts of the world that it is still going on.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

In terms of providing a new treatment of a subject arguably done to death in novels, plays, movies, documentaries, etc. etc. Hilary Mantel has done an magnificent job. Her presentation of Thomas Cromwell as something other than the two dimensional thug of other portrayals is masterful. Here he has wit, tenderness, malice, loyalty, brutality and subtlety. In short, he is a fully rounded and supremely intelligent man. It is a relief to get away from the innumerable portrayals of Thomas More as sainted and totally wronged - he was a religious zealot of frightening propensities and brutal tendencies. Yes, it was a brutal time and religion played a savage part in the lives of all, but More's fanaticism is always glossed over in popular accounts of the time whereas here Ms. Mantel brings it out into the light. Her touch is light - every character in the books is nuanced and finely drawn. I am itching to get my hands on the third part of this engrossing story.

[Kal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always been intrigued by the Tudor era and had high expectations from Wolf Hall but I was sadly disappointed.

Whilst the historical detail was excellent I struggled to engage with the characters and lacked any empathy for the lead Thomas Cromwell. At times it was also difficult to distinguish which character was speaking and towards the end this just started to wear my patience.

Unfortunately, I think I might give the next book a miss.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2 book series was very good. It is written in present tense, as if the story was unfolding in front of the reader right then. Also the main character is mostly referred to as "he" , so I would often have to reread parts in order to figure out who was doing what. I think that the second book read faster than the first one. I enjoyed the books and felt that I gained a greater appreciation for this man and his place in history.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took a little while to get into the style of writing but once I was in I loved it. The detail and insight was glorious. I felt I was there.

I was given a hard copy as a gift. Shame because it looks fabulous, so big. But I couldn't hold it and ended up buying it on the Kindle.

I will definitely read that one again. So much in it that I know I will have missed things.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! I dread the end of the series as Thomas Cromwell has become even more interesting in this, the second installment. Knowing what is to come fills me with apprehension but I cannot wait for the follow-on coming out next year. Excellent writing, plot and a real delight. I would read anything Hilary Mantel writes.