Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2009 'Lock Cromwell in
a deep dungeon in the morning,' says Thomas More, 'and
when you come back that night he'll be sitting on a
plush cushion eating larks' tongues, and all the gaolers
will owe him money.' 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. |
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