Pastime with good company

    You could do worse than pass time in the company of this most excellent novel. I've spent the best part of a week within its pages, constantly in awe of Hilary Mantel's skill, and enjoying a thoroughly good read besides.

    Wolf Hall is the story of the rise of Thomas Cromwell, a blacksmith's son, lawyer, consummate man of business, who came under the patronage of Cardinal Wolsey and thence to the right hand of Henry VIII as his most powerful minister, 'fixer' of all things and eventually Earl of Essex. The Tudor court is its setting, but it's much more than a history lesson or a painted backdrop for the posturing of cardboard figures. It is a vigorous, vivid portrait which appears effortless because every word is right and the incorporation of detail, both decorative (but always with a point) and essential is done so skilfully. Its prose is like subtle, supple silk, many-hued, beautifully balanced and fluid, and despite its length it is an extraordinarily economical book, a whole scene often created in only a line or two.

    "There are some people in this world who like everything squared up and precise, and there are those who will allow some drift at the margins. He is both these kinds of person." In that description and in the book as a whole, Hilary Mantel has captured the essential duality of the man, the public face - the strategist, the student of human nature, the shrewd politician - as well as the enigmatic, private one, generous and loving, learned, conscientious, and she has shown herself as astute as her subject in so doing. Her other characters are every bit as complex and fully fleshed, from Sir Thomas More (a very different figure from that of Bolt's A Man for All Seasons), King Henry himself and the scheming, manipulative Anne Boleyn - "... she looks small and tense, as if someone has knitted her and drawn the stitches too tight".

    We know the story - the multiple marriages, the religious wrangling, the political intrigue, we know what happens next, and there's a sequel in progress (thank goodness!), but read this bold and brilliant book and it all becomes less distant and more immediate. I'll finish here, though, with a completely gratuitous quotation from very near the end:

"Someone ... has put on his desk a shining silver pot of cornflowers. The dusky blueness at the base of the crinkled petals reminds him of this morning's light; a late dawn for July, a sullen sky."

Comments

[Jennifer]

It sounds really good, must try to get a copy.

[adele geras]

I noticed those cornflowers as well and couldn't agree with you more. You've given an excellent account of what it is about this book which is so great. They're reissuing some of her backlist now with new covers and I'd heartily recommend A CHANGE OF CLIMATE. I'm a bit miffed that Eight Months on Ghazzah Street isn't among the chosen and I wonder why that might be....it's amazingly good.

[Claire (Paperback Reader)]

My requested copy is finally available to collect from the library (I requested it three months ago) and I'm interested how I will find it as I've read mixed reviews (more pro than con) and know little about Tudor history.

[Simon S]

I loved this book and thought that its possibly one of the best books I have read on a period of history that I adore. I am also thrilled as it won me some money as I bet it would win the Man Booker ha.

[Cornflower]

Oh, well done, Simon! (Did you buy more books with your winnings?!)

[m]

Also noticed the cornflowers and thought of you! Am in awe that you managed to read this in less than a week, I have been buried deep in it for the past fortnight ... thank heavens for bank holidays and a long stretch on the sofa! I've only just finished and I'm completely stunned by how good this is.

[Cornflower]

So glad you enjoyed it!