Wolf Hall--Book Ten

Wolf Hall

By Hilary Mantel

Henry Holt and Company

Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize

I'm going to like this one. I know what's going to happen -- Henry VIII is a central character even if he's not the THE central character. Rather, this book tells the story of the men around Henry: lots of Thomases: Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey, More. Even Anne Boleyn's father is a Thomas. Gotta pay attention to keep them all straight.

Cromwell is at the center. A frightened, abused boy on page one, he's become a learned man who knows the New Testament by heart (at a time when reading the Bible just wasn't considered acceptable) and who knows how to handle the sensitive and powerful men around him. He's married well and has a loving family -- so different from the violent father he knew.

I like the perspective -- the politics of church and state, the pragmatism of needing a male heir, the mix of Spanish and English royalty in the royal court, the images of a London so different from the city I've seen. Thomas More is no saint here, more of a bully insisting upon pain of death that his fellow Englishmen abide by church law. It's a far different point of view than I've seen before. (Let's hear it for separation of church and state--thank you founders of my home state for your experiment in freedom of conscience.)

It's a thick, heavy book about an exceedingly difficult time. I'll be with all those Thomases for a long time.